FBI and Border Patrol officers speak with Sean Charles Dunn, after he threw his sandwich at an officer, along the U Street corridor during a federal law enforcement deployment to the nation’s capital on August 10, 2025 in Washington, D.C.
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Andrew Leyden/Getty Images
Not guilty. That was the finding of a jury on Thursday in the case of a man charged with assault for throwing his hoagie at a federal officer in Washington, D.C.
The jury’s conclusion came after about seven hours of deliberations. The case of the Subway sandwich has come to symbolize how many in the nation’s capital feel about the Trump administration’s surge of federal law enforcement to the city.
A bystander’s video captured Sean Charles Dunn in August calling federal officers racists and fascists. He also threw his Subway sandwich at Gregory Lairmore, an agent with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Lairmore, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, told jurors the sandwich exploded and he smelled onions and mustard — though he wasn’t hurt. Dunn was later caught by police and fired from his job at the Justice Department.
The U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. initially tried to charge Dunn with felony assault. When a grand jury failed to indict him on that charge, the case was downgraded to a misdemeanor charge for assaulting or impeding a federal officer.
Dunn argued that he was being singled out because of his criticism of the Trump administration. His lawyers also teased out the absurdity of the situation, arguing it was a harmless gesture that caused no harm or injury. Lairmore, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, admitted during the trial that he received gag gifts from colleagues including a plush sandwich and a patch that says “Felony Footlong.”
“I’m relieved and I’m looking forward to moving on with my life,” Sean Charles Dunn said outside the courthouse on Thursday after the jury’s verdict.
