A Washington jury on Thursday, November 6, 2025, found Sean C. Dunn not guilty of misdemeanor assault for throwing a sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent during President Donald Trump’s law-enforcement surge in the nation’s capital.
A federal jury in Washington, D.C., acquitted Sean C. Dunn on a misdemeanor assault charge stemming from an August 10, 2025, incident in which he threw a sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent amid protests over the Trump administration’s policing surge. Dunn, who gained internet notoriety as the city’s “sandwich guy,” was cleared after a three-day trial. Jurors deliberated for about seven hours over two days before returning the verdict. (reuters.com)
Prosecutors said Dunn hurled the sub “at point-blank range.” Agent Gregory Lairmore testified he felt the impact through his ballistic vest and that condiments and an onion strand ended up on his uniform and police radio antenna. Video from that night shows Dunn shouting at agents before throwing the sandwich; Lairmore’s colleagues later gave him gag gifts referencing a “felony footlong.” The confrontation unfolded outside a Subway restaurant at 14th and U Streets NW. (washingtonpost.com)
The U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, led by Jeanine Pirro, initially sought a felony indictment, but a grand jury declined to charge Dunn at that level. Prosecutors then filed a misdemeanor case. During the trial before U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols, the government argued that Dunn crossed the line from protected speech to assault; defense lawyers countered that the toss was not “forcible” under the law and could not injure armored officers. The jury agreed with the defense and acquitted Dunn. (reuters.com)
Body-camera footage captured Dunn acknowledging, “I did it. I threw a sandwich. I did it to draw them away from where they were.” After the verdict, he told reporters he believed he was protecting immigrants’ rights that night. (washingtonpost.com)
The case became a prominent test of prosecutions tied to Trump’s late-summer federalization of D.C. policing and deployment of National Guard troops and federal agents. In several related matters, grand juries have declined to indict, and another trial last month ended in an acquittal, underscoring the difficulties prosecutors have faced in surge-linked cases. (reuters.com)
Pirro said her office accepts the verdict but maintained that “law enforcement should never be subjected to assault, no matter how ‘minor’... Even children know when they are angry, they are not allowed to throw objects at one another.” (reuters.com)
