64 Year Old Panera Bread ‘Karen’ Charged With Hate Crime

A 64 year old Chicago woman that went viral for acting like a ‘Karen’ in a Panera Bread is being charged with hate crimes.  Alexandra Szustakiewicz, 64, of Darien, Illinois, was charged with two felony hate crime counts and one count of misdemeanor disorderly conduct.   

P. K had a problem with the sweatshirt a man was wearing that had “Palestine” printed on it. 

The man, Waseem Zahran, can be seen in surveillance video standing between his wife and Szustakiewicz.

“[She] kinda whispered to us or said quietly, ‘F Palestine,’” Zahran said. “And at first I didn’t know what she said because of her accent, so I smiled at her and thought she was saying something nice to us. I said, ‘Oh, what was that?’ And she was far away and said it again and came closer to my face and kept repeating it.”

Next thing you know Alexandra Szustakiewicz started swinging on Zahran and that’s when his pregnant wife started her camera rolling.

Alexandra Szustakiewicz eventually left the Panera Bread before Downers Grove police arrived. But she was arrested at her home and taken to the DuPage County Jail on Sunday, charged with two counts of hate crime and one count of disorderly conduct.   Szustakiewicz was released until her arraignment in December with the condition that she stay away from Waseem Zahran and Panera Bread.

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