Illinois woman, 64, charged with hate crime, attacking man in ‘Palestine’ shirt at Panera Bread
DOWNER’S GROVE, Ill. (WTVO) — A 64-year-old woman from Darien faces felony hate crime charges after police say she attacked a couple who were wearing shirts reading “Palestine” at a Panera Bread restaurant in Downer’s Grove.
According to police, officers were called to the restaurant at 7361 Lemont Road around 11:58 a.m. on Saturday for a report of disorderly conduct and battery.
Police said Alexandria Szustakiewicz confronted and shouted expletives at a man “regarding his sweatshirt with ‘Palestine’ written on it,” CBS News reported.
Authorities also said she attempted to hit a cell phone out of the woman’s hands when she tried to record the incident.
Szustankiewicz was charged with two felony hate crime counts and one count of misdemeanor disorderly conduct.
The man, Waseem Zahran, told reporters that “[She] kinda whispered to us or said quietly, ‘F Palestine,’ And at first I didn’t know what she said because of her accent, so I smiled at her and thought she was saying something nice to us. I said, ‘Oh, what was that?’ And she was far away and said it again and came closer to my face and kept repeating it.”
“Once I saw she was going to throw hot coffee on my wife, I had to stop it. So I grabbed the cup of coffee,” Zahran continued. “She was still trying to force it up. So in the video, you see me spilling it, so if she does throw it, it’s not going to hurt us. … As I’m spilling [the coffee] out, she goes for a punch and kind of hits me in the side of my face.”
“Every member of society, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or any other individual characteristic, deserves to be treated with respect and civility,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in a statement.
“This type of behavior and the accompanying prejudice have no place in a civilized society, and my office stands ready to file the appropriate charges in this case,” Berlin added.
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