A Customs and Border Protection agent testified Tuesday that a Subway sandwich “exploded all over” him during an alleged assault outside a Washington, D.C., nightclub last summer — an incident that has now landed a former Justice Department employee on trial.
Sean Charles Dunn, 37, is facing a misdemeanor assault charge after reportedly hurling a Subway footlong at CBP Agent Gregory Lairmore in August. Dunn’s attorney acknowledged that her client tossed the sandwich but insisted the act was “blown out of proportion.”
“I could feel it through my ballistic vest,” Agent Lairmore told jurors, describing the moment of impact. “It kind of exploded all over. You could smell the onions and the mustard.”
Lairmore said he later found an onion hanging from his police radio and discovered mustard stains on his shirt. He added that his fellow officers poked fun at the incident, gifting him a “felony footlong” patch and a plush toy sandwich, which now sits on his office shelf.
Defense attorney Julia Gatto told the jury that Dunn’s actions were a “harmless gesture” and an act of protest against President Trump’s surge of federal law enforcement officers into the nation’s capital.
“It was an exclamation point — a symbolic protest, not an assault,” Gatto argued. “He’s overwhelmingly not guilty. Yes, he threw the sandwich. But turning that moment into a federal criminal case is absurd.”
Dunn, who was employed as a DOJ paralegal, was fired after video of the incident and his attempted escape circulated widely online. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced his termination in a social media post, calling Dunn’s behavior “a clear act of disrespect.”
“This is exactly the kind of Deep State conduct we’ve been rooting out for months,” Bondi wrote. “You will not serve in this administration while disrespecting our government and law enforcement.”
Initially charged with a felony by D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, Dunn was spared indictment when a grand jury declined to move the case forward.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John Parron told jurors that the issue wasn’t politics, but personal conduct. “No matter who you are, you can’t just go around throwing things at people because you’re upset,” he said. “That’s not what free speech means. You just can’t do what the defendant did here.”
It remains unclear whether Dunn will testify when the trial continues Wednesday.