Woman charged with hate crimes for assault on Palestinian man, pregnant wife at Downers Grove Panera

A woman faces hate crime charges after allegedly taunting a man wearing a hoodie emblazoned with the word “Palestine” at a Downers Grove Panera restaurant.

Alexandra Szustakiewicz, a 64-year-old Darien woman, allegedly confronted the man and yelled expletives at him while trying to hit his pregnant wife just before noon Saturday at the restaurant, Downers Grove police said.

A woman who was with the man began recording the incident on her cell phone, which Szustakiewicz allegedly tried to knock out of her hands, police said. The video was shared on social media.

Szustakiewicz was arrested Sunday at his home and charged with two felony counts of hate crime and one count of disorderly conduct, police said. She was booked into the DuPage County Jail.

“This type of behavior is not and will never be tolerated in our community,” Downers Grove Police Chief Michael DeVries said in a statement.

One of the victims, Waseem Zahran, said he tried to de-escalate the situation several times, even after Szustakiewicz allegedly punched him in the face and tried to throw hot coffee at his wife before and after swinging at her several times. He said Szustakiewicz continued to rock on his wife after he told Szustakiewicz she was pregnant. “I don’t care,” he says, she replied.

Zahran claims the woman said, “F—- Palestine and f—-you” after asking the couple if they were Palestinians.

Zahran said he and other Palestinians have come to expect this kind of behavior because of widespread Islamophobia in the United States. Before he and his wife moved to Downers Grove a few months ago, they lived in Plainfield, just a few blocks from where they were 6 years old. Old Palestinian-American boy Wadee Alfayoumi was stabbed to death. The family’s landlord, Joseph Czuba, has been charged with the murder of the boy in October 2023.

Zahran says it’s not the first time he’s been harassed for the sweatshirt, and he doesn’t expect it to be the last.

“Since I was a child, I have seen my mother threatened, parents screamed, cousins ​​shouted, but this was the first for me to be attacked,” Zahran said. “It’s very well known in our community how serious this anti-Palestinian (sentiment) is.”

He said he has learned to “always be with people,” but that even in the wake of Saturday’s attack, he was grateful for the community that supported him and his wife.

“I wouldn’t be okay without this community,” he said.

Regarding the charges, he said he was pleasantly surprised that she faced the consequences of the attack. Initially, the Panera workers had come to her aid and treated her as the victim after she allegedly punched him and tried to hit his wife while screaming obscenities.

“She was the victim, even though they saw me being attacked for more than a minute, it was kind of disgusting,” Zahran said. “(So) I wasn’t sure if she was going to be charged, but justice is coming for her. It makes me have a little hope for this community.”

Panera did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Monday, DuPage County Judge Joshua Dieden granted Szustakiewicz a pretrial release that included orders to have no contact with Zahran and his wife and no access to the Panera where the incident occurred, according to the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Szustakiewicz is scheduled to stand trial on December 16, according to the state prosecutor’s office.

“Every member of society, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or other individual characteristics, deserves to be treated with respect and courtesy,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in a statement. “This type of behavior and the accompanying prejudice has no place in a civilized society, and my office stands ready to file the appropriate charges in such cases.”

DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office/Provided