A woman faces hate crime charges after allegedly attacking a man wearing a hoodie with the word “Palestine” on it at a Downers Grove Panera restaurant.
Alexandra Szustakiewicz, a 64-year-old Darien woman, allegedly confronted the man and yelled racial slurs at him while trying to hit his pregnant wife just before noon Saturday at the restaurant, Downers Grove police said.
In a viral video, the woman who was with the man started recording the incident on her cellphone, which Szustakiewicz allegedly tried to hit out of her hands, police said.
According to the Chicago Times, one of the victims, Waseem Zahran, stated that he attempted to de-escalate the situation multiple times. This was after Szustakiewicz allegedly hit him in the face and tried to throw hot coffee on his wife, both before and after swinging at her several times. Zahran mentioned that Szustakiewicz continued to swing at his wife even after he informed her that his wife was pregnant. “I don’t care,” she reportedly replied.
Szustakiewicz was arrested Sunday at her home and charged with two felony hate crime counts and one count of disorderly conduct, police said. She was booked into DuPage County Jail.
