Prosecutors in Washington, D.C., failed to secure a felony indictment from a grand jury against a man charged with assault for throwing a sandwich at a federal agent.
A grand jury didn’t consider Sean Dunn’s viral act of protest against President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of Washington worthy of felony assault charges, according to the New York Times and other outlets.
Earlier this month, Dunn, then employed by the Department of Justice, threw a Subway sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection officer stationed outside the franchise because he thought it was “funny,” said Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
Far from viewing the incident as amusing, Pirro swiftly charged the “sandwich guy” with felony assault on a law enforcement officer before the DOJ employee was fired from the federal agency.
Given the grand jury’s failure to return the indictment sought by Pirro, the DOJ could drop the charges to misdemeanor simple assault on an officer, which carries a maximum of one year in prison and up to $100,000 in fines. The DOJ did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for further details on the case.
Before appearing to throw a salami sub at the federal agent, video of Dunn’s Aug. 10 protest depicts the then-DOJ employee yelling, “F*** you! You f***ing fascists! Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!” at law enforcement officers stationed in the district as part of Trump’s anti-crime effort.
The president’s federalization of Washington has attracted criticism and praise from observers.
Some view Trump’s actions as unnecessarily authoritarian policy that marks an overreach of executive powers. Others believe the policy is needed to target crime, with data showing that violent acts and other criminal behavior plummeted after the president authorized troops to monitor D.C. streets.
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Similar to Dunn’s case, D.C. grand juries also recently rallied around another woman accused of assaulting an FBI agent during an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest. Pirro’s office failed to convince three different grand juries to approve an indictment charging Sidney Reid with felony assault.
Pirro’s office instead moved to charge Reid this week with a misdemeanor, which would not require a sign-off from a grand jury.