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High School Golf Coach Receives DUI While Driving Students

"Ohh myy goshh susie is going to kill us! She cant stay on the road! So in case this is the last time i talk to you i love you! :)"

A text that a father received from his daughter while was in an SUV driven by her high school’s girls' golf coach Susie Steinbeck.

Police officer later made contact with the driver, and was charged with driving drunk and child endangerment as she transported the golf team to a conference meet in Keokuk.

Susan Lynn Steinbeck, 59, registered a blood-alcohol level of .212 —more than two and a half times above the legal limit to operate a motorized vehicle. Records shows that another driver was worried about the vehicle swerving on the road.

"(My daughter) Liz complained to me in the past that Susie had problem controlling vehicles, wandering all over the road," said Daryn Hamilton, a Fairfield city councilman. "I kind of chalked it up to 'Some people don't pay much attention when they drive.'

Hamilton said another parent was authorized to drive the team, which finished the trip and competed in the conference meet.

The school district’s superintendent Don Achelpohl said in a news release on the school's website that "the safety of the students was verified and the district made arrangements for the team to continue on. Parents were notified by Fairfield High School of the incident.

The district is continuing to investigate the incident regarding possible further action."
Hamilton said he and his daughter exchanged around 65 text messages the morning of the arrest, as she updated her family.

A number of team members expressed concern during the drive, he said.

"Liz said the girls in the van had been yelling at Susie to pull over," Hamilton said. "They said a person pulled alongside them — a private vehicle (not police) — to see if something was physically wrong with Susie."

The State Patrol officer spoke with Steinbeck and "could smell an odor of alcoholic beverage coming from her breath."