Illinois woman charged with hate crime, accused of assaulting man wearing “Palestine” sweatshirt

By Tara Molina

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    DOWNERS GROVE, Illinois (WBBM) — A 64-year-old woman from Chicago’s western suburbs is facing hate crime charges and accused of assaulting a Palestinian-American couple in a video that went viral.

Alexandra Szustakiewicz, 64, of Darien, Illinois, was charged with two felony hate crime counts and one count of misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

Just before noon, Downers Grove police responded to a disturbance call at Panera Bread in the 7000 block of Lemont Road.

Police said Szustakiewicz confronted and yelled expletives at a man “regarding his sweatshirt with ‘Palestine’ written on it.” Police said the suspect also attempted to hit a cell phone out of the hands of a woman, who was with the man, when she started videoing the interaction.

“According to the complaint filed against Szustakiewicz, she allegedly ‘committed a hate crime by reason of perceived national origin’ of the two victims,” police said in a written release.

The man, Waseem Zahran, can be seen in surveillance video standing between his wife and Szustakiewicz.

“[She] kinda whispered to us or said quietly, ‘F Palestine,'” Zahran said. “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.”

The video does not show the entire incident, but Zahran is seen repeatedly holding Szustakiewicz’s arms and pushing her back. He said his pregnant wife started recording in an effort to protect him, and that he was trying to shield her from Szustakiewicz assaulting and throwing a cup of coffee at them.

“It could’ve easily been scripted that I was the one attacking her,” Zahran said. “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. 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.”

Szustakiewicz left the scene and was arrested the next day. Szustakiewicz was granted release and is barred from entering the Panera Bread where the incident took place. Police said as part of their investigation they also reviewed video from Panera’s cameras.

“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,” said DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin in a statement.

In a statement, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)-Chicago also said in part, “This shameful and abusive behavior has to be understood and called out for what it is.”

Downers Grove Police Chief Mike DeVries did not want to sit down for an interview, but he did thank the officers who responded and investigated the incident.

“This type of behavior is not and will never be tolerated in our community,” he said in a statement.

Zahran said the supportive messages he has received outweigh the hateful ones.

“I’m really proud of being Palestinian. And I love my country, America, and I love Palestine,” he said. “Just be human. Have a heart. Just because people aren’t your color or your country or your religion even, doesn’t mean you can’t feel for them.”

Szustakiewicz will be back in court on December 16.

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