‘No matter who you are, you can’t just throw stuff at people because you’re crazy’: DC riveted by Subway sandwich throwing affair
Throwing a sandwich at a federal agent was an act of protest on the part of Washington, DC resident Sean Charles Dunn. A jury must decide whether this was also a federal crime.
“No matter who you are, you can’t throw things at people because you’re crazy,” Assistant U.S. Attorney John Parron told jurors Tuesday at the start of Dunn’s trial on a misdemeanor assault charge.
Dunn does not dispute that he threw his submarine-style sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent outside a nightclub on the night of Aug. 10. It was an “exclamation point” for Dunn when he expressed opposition to President Donald Trump’s law enforcement surge in the nation’s capital, defense attorney Julia Gatto said during opening statements in the trial.
“It was a harmless gesture for him to exercise his right to express himself,” Gatto said. “He is absolutely not guilty.”
A bystander’s cellphone video of the confrontation went viral on social media, making Dunn a symbol of resistance against Trump’s federal takeover for months. Murals depicting him midway appeared around the city virtually overnight.
“He did it. He threw the sandwich,” Gatto told jurors. “And now the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia has turned that moment – a thrown sandwich – into a criminal case, a federal criminal case charging a federal offense.
A grand jury declined to indict Dunn on felony assault charges, part of a crackdown on the Justice Department’s prosecution of criminal cases related to the surge. After rare reprimands from the grand jury, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office instead charged Dunn with a misdemeanor.
CBP Agent Gregory Lairmore, the government’s first witness, testified that the sandwich “exploded” when it hit his chest hard enough that he could feel it through his bulletproof vest.
“You could smell the onion and the mustard,” he remembers.
Lairmore and other CBP agents were standing outside a club hosting a “Latin night” when Dunn approached and shouted profanities at them, calling them “fascists” and “racists” and chanting “shame.”
“Why are you here? I don’t want you in my town!” Dunn screamed, police said.
Lairmore testified that he and the other officers tried to deescalate the situation.
“He was red-faced. Enraged. He called me and my colleagues all kinds of names,” he said. “I did not respond. It is his constitutional right to express his opinion.”
After throwing the sandwich, Dunn fled but was apprehended about a block away. Jurors saw video from an officer’s body camera after Dunn’s arrest.
“I was trying to get them away from where they were,” Dunn said on the video. “I succeeded.”
Lairmore’s colleagues later jokingly gave him gifts making light of the incident, including a stuffed sandwich toy and a patch reading “one foot crime.” Defense attorney Sabrina Schroff pointed to this as evidence that officers recognize this case is “exaggerated” and “joke-worthy.”
It is unclear whether Dunn will testify after his trial resumes Wednesday. One of his lawyers said Tuesday that he had not yet decided whether he would take the stand once the government finishes its case.
Parron told jurors that everyone is entitled to their view on Trump’s rise to federal power.
“With all due respect, that’s not what this case is about,” the prosecutor said. “You just can’t do what the defendant did here. He crossed a line.”
Dunn was a Justice Department employee who worked as an international affairs specialist in its criminal division. After Dunn’s arrest, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced his firing in a social media post describing him as “an example of the deep state.”
Dunn was released but re-arrested when a team of armed federal agents in riot gear raided his home. The White House posted a highly produced “propaganda” video of the raid on its official X account, Dunn’s lawyers said.
Dunn’s lawyers argued that the messages from Bondi and the White House show that Dunn was illegally targeted because of his political speech. They urged U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols to dismiss the case on grounds that they say it is a vindictive and selective prosecution. Nichols, who was appointed by Trump, did not comment on the request before the trial began Monday.
Dunn is charged with assaulting, resisting, opposing, obstructing, intimidating and interfering with a federal agent. Dozens of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol have been convicted of crimes for assaulting or interfering with police during the Jan. 6 attack. Trump pardoned or ordered charges against each of them dropped.
