A girl faces hate crime prices after allegedly berating a person sporting a hoodie with the phrase “Palestine” on it at a Downers Grove Panera restaurant.
Alexandra Szustakiewicz, a 64-year-old Darien girl, allegedly confronted the person and yelled expletives at him simply earlier than midday Saturday on the restaurant, Downers Grove police mentioned.
A girl who was with the person began recording the incident on her cellphone, which Szustakiewicz allegedly tried to hit out of her palms, police mentioned. The video was shared on social media.
Szustakiewicz was arrested Sunday at her residence and charged with two felony hate crime counts and one rely of disorderly conduct, police mentioned. She was booked into DuPage County Jail.
“This sort of conduct will not be and can by no means be tolerated in our neighborhood,” Downers Grove Police Chief Michael DeVries mentioned in an announcement.
One of many victims, Waseem Zahran, mentioned he tried to deescalate the scenario a number of instances, even after Szustakiewicz allegedly hit him within the face and tried to throw sizzling espresso on his spouse earlier than and after swinging at her a number of instances.
Zahran mentioned he and different Palestinians have come to anticipate this form of conduct on account of rampant Islamophobia within the U.S. Earlier than he and his spouse had moved to Downers Grove a number of months in the past, they lived in Plainfield, only a few blocks from the place 6-year-old Palestinian American boy Wadee Alfayoumi was stabbed to death. His household’s landlord, Joseph Czuba, has been charged within the slaying in October of 2023 in one other alleged hate crime.
Zahran says this isn’t the primary time he’s been harassed for the sweatshirt, and he doesn’t anticipate it to be the final.
“Since I used to be a baby, I’ve seen my mother threatened, dad and mom screamed at, cousins yelled at, however it was a primary for me to be attacked,” Zahran mentioned. “It’s very identified in our neighborhood how critical this anti Palestinian [sentiment] is.”
He mentioned he’s discovered to “at all times be with individuals,” however that even within the wake of Saturday’s assault, he was grateful for the neighborhood who supported him and his spouse.
“I might not be OK with out this neighborhood,” he mentioned.
As for the fees, he mentioned he was pleasantly shocked she confronted penalties for the assault. Initially, the Panera staff had come to her help and handled her because the sufferer after she had allegedly been hitting him and making an attempt to hit his spouse whereas screaming obscenities.
“She was the sufferer, though they watched me be attacked for over a minute, it was form of disgusting,” Zahran mentioned. “[So] I wasn’t certain if she was going to be charged, however justice is coming for her. It makes me have slightly hope for this society.”
On Monday, DuPage County Choose Joshua Dieden granted a pretrial launch for Szustakiewicz that included orders of no contact with Zahran and his spouse and no entry to the Panera the place the incident occurred, in line with the DuPage County state’s legal professional’s workplace.
Szustakiewicz is due for arraignment Dec. 16, in line with the state’s legal professional’s workplace.
“Each member of society, no matter race, faith, sexual orientation or every other particular person traits, deserves to be handled with respect and civility,” DuPage County State’s Lawyer Robert Berlin mentioned in an announcement. “This sort of conduct and the accompanying prejudice haven’t any place in a civilized society, and my workplace stands able to file the suitable prices in such instances.”
Ahmed Rehab, govt director of the Council on American Islamic Relations-Chicago, condemned the assault in an emailed assertion.
“We’ve lengthy seen how European migrants like this girl really feel a weird sense of entitlement to frequently harass and accost native Palestinians of their ancestral homeland, realizing they take pleasure in full impunity and realizing their victims haven’t any recourse,” Rehab mentioned. “Now, shockingly however not surprisingly, that very same anti-Palestinian hatred has adopted them into their new homeland, right here in America, the place they had been born and raised.”
Rehab mentioned the incident displays a bigger sample of hostility towards Palestinian People and the bigger Muslim neighborhood, and that he welcomed the hate crime prices filed in opposition to Szustakiewicz.
“Thankfully, ours is a rustic of legal guidelines,” Rehab mentioned. “This alleged shameful and abusive conduct needs to be understood and referred to as out for what it’s, not solely in its horrid particulars however within the context of the bigger hateful phenomenon of which it comes. It can not and won’t have a house right here.”
