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A federal grand jury has refused to indict folk hero Sean Charles Dunn on a felony assault charge for allegedly throwing a sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer in Washington, D.C. on August 10.
Video captured a man, allegedly Dunn, throwing a sandwich at an officer and then fleeing the scene on foot.
“Fuck you! You fucking facists!” he yelled before throwing the sandwich, according to the complaint. “Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!”
The complaint says Dunn confessed to police, saying, “I did it. I threw a sandwich.”
The New York Times reported that, according to “two people familiar with the matter,” the grand jury refused to indict Dunn on Tuesday in what the paper called “a remarkable failure by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington.”
Earlier this month, President Trump used a supposed crime spree in Washington, D.C. — despite record-low rates of violent crime — as a pretext to flood the city with federal officers and National Guard troops. People in D.C. and throughout the country have celebrated Dunn’s sandwich toss as an act of protest against Trump’s fascist agenda and authoritarian takeover of the city. Artwork commemorating the toss adorns buildings throughout D.C.
If convicted, Dunn, an Air Force veteran, faced up to eight years in prison. It is not known if federal prosecutors will attempt to indict him again or charge him with a misdemeanor, which will not require a grand jury indictment to proceed.
After Dunn’s arrest, the Trump administration vowed to punish him and he was fired from his job with the Department of Justice.
“If you touch any law enforcement officer, we will come after you,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X. “You will NOT work in this administration while disrespecting our government and law enforcement.”
In a video posted after his arrest, the head of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C., Jeanine Pirro, gleefully announced that they had charged Dunn with a felony.
“He thought it was funny,” she said. “Well, he doesn’t think it’s funny today, because we charged him with a felony. ”
Obtaining a grand jury indictment is usually barely a speed bump for federal prosecutors. However, multiple grand juries have rejected charges filed by Pirro’s office. On Monday, after three grand juries refused to indict a woman on a felony assault charge of a federal officer, prosecutors reduced the person’s charge to a misdemeanor, which does not require a grand jury’s approval to proceed.
In another case, a judge lambasted Pirro’s office for pursuing charges against a Black man who was shopping at Trader Joe’s when officers conducted a blatantly illegal search of his bag.
“It is without a doubt the most illegal search I’ve ever seen in my life,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui said. “I’m absolutely flabbergasted at what has happened. A high school student would know this was an illegal search.”
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