A grand jury has refused to indict the man accused of throwing his sandwich at federal immigration officers as they patrolled the nation’s capital, according to news reports.
Sean Charles Dunn, who worked for the Justice Department, was caught on video berating officers, then hurling his hoagie at a Customs and Border Protection agent, striking him in the chest.
Federal officers charged Mr. Dunn by complaint, but the grand jury refused to grant an indictment, The New York Times first reported.
Mr. Dunn quickly became a face of anti-Trump resistance, with posters of him in a defiant pose and poised to sling the sandwich, going viral.
The CBP officer was deployed to the streets of Washington as part of President Trump’s crackdown on the city’s crime. He was patrolling with other officers on 14th Street late on Aug. 10 when he was confronted by a man wearing short pants and a light shirt.
According to the complaint, filed in federal district court in Washington, Mr. Dunn began to shout obscenities at the federal officers and call them “fascists.”
“I don’t want you in my city!” he said, according to a Metro Transit Police officer who observed the interaction.
The yelling lasted several minutes before Mr. Dunn cocked his arm and heaved the hero sandwich into the agent’s chest, authorities alleged.
Mr. Dunn then tried to run away but was caught.
Authorities said he admitted to it as he was being processed for arrest.
“I did it. I threw a sandwich,” he said.
Grand jury proceedings are secret, so the jurors’ reasoning for not returning an indictment isn’t known, but the online world immediately labeled it as nullification.
Mr. Dunn’s lawyer declined to comment.
The Washington Times has reached out to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Mr. Dunn was fired from his job at the Justice Department.
The U.S. attorney’s office said earlier this week that it also failed to secure an indictment against Sydney Lori Reid, who was charged by complaint in July with trying to interfere with arrests of two illegal immigrants outside the D.C. jail.
Prosecutors admitted that three grand juries failed to return an indictment.
The U.S. attorney’s office then filed a criminal information, which is another way of attempting to bring charges.