A federal grand jury declined on Tuesday, Aug. 26 to indict a man accused of throwing a submarine sandwich at a federal agent in Washington, D.C., according to ABC News and the New York Times.
Prosecutors said 37-year-old Sean C. Dunn hurled the sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection officer working in a busy nightlife district of Northwest Washington, D.C., the Times reported. The officer’s deployment came after the Trump administration called in the National Guard and placed D.C.’s police force under federal authority.
Charging documents allege Dunn shouted, “F** you! You f**ing fascists! Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city,” before the incident, CBS News reported.
Dunn, arrested on Aug. 13, was later dismissed from his job as a Justice Department paralegal.
Despite the charges, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington failed to secure an indictment from the grand jury. Such a decision is uncommon, as federal grand juries typically return indictments in the vast majority of cases, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Federal prosecutors also faced setbacks in a separate case involving Sidney Reid, accused of assaulting an FBI agent during an immigration operation in D.C. Three different grand juries declined to indict Reid, and the charge was later reduced to a misdemeanor, Reuters reported.
As for Dunn, a preliminary hearing is scheduled for next week, where a magistrate judge will decide if there is sufficient evidence for the case to move forward, the Times noted.
Dunn’s attorney declined to comment, while the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. did not respond to requests for comment.
