A D.C. grand jury has refused to indict local resident Sean Charles Dunn, 37, who was dubbed the “Sandwich Guy” after he threw a Subway sandwich at a federal officer during a Trump-era law enforcement deployment near 14th and U Streets NW.
A familiar face in the District’s LGBTQ nightlife scene, Dunn had been charged with felony assault on a federal agent.
Video from the incident shows Dunn yelling at the officer, calling him and his colleagues “fascists” and shouting, “I don’t want you in my city!” He then hurled his sandwich at the officer and tried to run, but was arrested and charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office on August 13 with felony assault, a charge carrying up to eight years in prison.
The video quickly went viral on social media, and federal officials later released footage of heavily armed officers arriving at Dunn’s apartment. He was fired from his job at the U.S. Department of Justice but has since become a folk hero to some D.C. residents who oppose the federal presence, even appearing in street art as a symbol of resistance to the Trump administration’s takeover.
The decision marks the second time in recent days that a D.C. grand jury has declined to indict someone accused of assaulting a federal agent, reports The New York Times.
On August 25, prosecutors downgraded a felony assault charge to a misdemeanor after three failed attempts to secure a grand jury indictment against Sidney Lori Reid, accused of injuring an FBI agent during a protest outside the D.C. Jail against immigration officials.
That same day, a separate case collapsed when a federal magistrate judge dismissed all charges against a man arrested at a D.C. Trader Joe’s for carrying two handguns in a sling backpack. Prosecutors had claimed he had prior weapons violations.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui scolded prosecutors for charging Torez Riley, a married father of three, with illegal possession of a weapon as a felon based only on officers’ observations that his bag appeared to contain something heavy. That, Faruqui said, was not enough to establish probable cause, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.
“It is without a doubt the most illegal search I’ve ever seen in my life,” Faruqui said from the bench. “I’m absolutely flabbergasted at what has happened. A high school student would know this was an illegal search.”
Prosecutors have 30 days after a felony arrest to secure an indictment. In Dunn’s case, they could try again with a grand jury, as they did with Reid, or they could drop the felony charge and refile it as a misdemeanor, which does not require an indictment to move forward. If they fail to act within the deadline, the case must be reduced or dismissed.
It is not yet clear which course the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia will pursue.
Dunn is set to appear in federal court for a preliminary hearing, where Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey will decide whether there is probable cause that he committed a crime by throwing the sandwich at the CBP officer.
Loudoun County Public Schools will maintain its LGBTQ nondiscrimination policies -- including allowing transgender students to use facilities that match their gender identity -- despite threats of penalties from the U.S. Department of Education.
On August 12, after a closed session meeting, the Loudoun County School Board voted 6-3 to inform the Department of Education that while it was open to further discussion, it could not "at this time" agree to the changes the agency demanded, reports The Washington Post.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has subpoenaed records from the Kilted Mermaid, a popular Vero Beach restaurant, as part of an investigation into a June 29 "Pride Tea Dance" featuring music, dancing, and drag shows.
Uthmeier's office claims the restaurant allowed "adult, sexualized performers in front of children," allegedly violating Florida's blocked law banning drag shows and other "adult live performances."
Announcing the probe on X, Uthmeier wrote, "In Florida, we don't sacrifice the innocence of children for the perversions of some demented adults." He said his office had subpoenaed Kilted Mermaid owner and Vero Beach Vice Mayor Linda Moore to testify and provide documents related to the event.
A transgender asylum seeker from Mexico, identified in court filings as O.J.M., has been released after spending 43 days in immigration detention. She was arrested in early June, just after attending an asylum hearing at the Portland Immigration Court, and was held at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington.
O.J.M. is one of many asylum seekers arrested and detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration -- a policy critics argue subverts due process. In one related case, a gay makeup artist seeking asylum was deported and imprisoned in a maximum-security facility in El Salvador after being wrongly accused of gang affiliation. He has since been released.
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