Illinois woman charged with hate crime after alleged altercation with man wearing "Palestine" sweatshirt
CHICAGO (CBS) — A 64-year-old woman from Chicago's western suburbs is facing hate crime charges following an altercation on Saturday.
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.
Officers took Szustakiewicz into custody the following day without incident. Szustakiewicz was granted release and cannot enter the Panera Bread where the incident took place.
The suspect will be back in court on December 16.
There have been a number of incidents reported in Chicago of Palestinian expression being targeted, including a Palestinian café on Chicago's North Side that says it was vandalized twice. Additionally, there have been multiple antisemitic incidents in the metro area as well, including the phrase "Death to Israel" being displayed on a digital billboard last month.
