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Waseem Zahran
A woman has been charged with a hate crime after confronting a man wearing a Palestine hoodie.
Alexandra Szustakiewicz, 64, is also accused of trying to knock a phone out of the man’s wife’s hand while she recorded the encounter.
She appeared in court on Monday for her arraignment on two felony hate crime counts and a misdemeanour disorderly conduct charge.
A DuPage County judge ordered the Darien, Illinois, woman to have no contact with the victims and to stay away from the restaurant where police said the confrontation occurred.
She allegedly “attempted to hit a cell phone out of the hands of a woman who was with the man when the [she] began videotaping the incident,” it adds.
A complaint filed against Ms Szustakiewicz, who was arrested Sunday, alleges that she “committed a hate crime by reason of perceived national origin” of the two victims.
Robert Berlin, DuPage County State’s attorney, said in a statement that “this type of behavior and the accompanying prejudice have no place in a civilized society”.
Waseem Zahran, the Palestinian man Szustakiewicz is accused of confronting, said he was wearing a hoodie with the word “Palestine” on it when she approached him at a branch of Panera Bread in Downers Grove, Chicago, Illinois.
He alleged that she yelled expletives at him and tried to hit his pregnant wife, who was filming the incident with her phone.
Mr Zahran claimed to the Chicago Sun-Times that he tried to de-escalate the situation multiple times, even after the woman allegedly hit him in the face and attempted to throw hot coffee on his wife.
The alleged victim claimed Ms Szustakiewicz continued swinging at his wife even after he told her she was pregnant, allegedly responding that she “did not care”.
Ms Szustakiewicz’s next court hearing is set for Dec 16.
A message left Tuesday for her public defender, Kendall Pietrzak, seeking comment on the charges was not immediately returned.
