Man Charged With Assaulting Federal Agent With Sandwich in D.C.

A video showed a man repeatedly calling a group of officers “fascists” before throwing a sub sandwich at one.


A man in a pink shirt holding something in his left hand and several people in law enforcement uniforms stand outside a Subway sandwich shop on a city street corner.
A man seen approaching federal agents while holding a sandwich in Washington on Sunday. He was later arrested, accused of throwing the item at an officer. Andrew Leyden/Getty Images

By Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs
Aug. 13, 2025

A man accused of throwing a sandwich at a federal agent who was patrolling Washington this week, after calling him and other agents “fascists,” was charged with assaulting a federal officer on Wednesday.

The police said the man threw a “sub-style” sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection officer on Sunday night, the day before President Trump’s announcement that his administration was temporarily taking over Washington’s police force and sending National Guard troops and federal agents into the city for patrols.

A video of the interaction went viral, showing a man repeatedly yelling at the agents near the corner of 14th and U Streets in Northwest D.C., a popular part of the city filled with bars and restaurants. “Shame! Shame!” he yelled from across the street. … At some point, the video shows, he got closer to the officers and warned them to back up while berating them.

After minutes of yelling, the man paused briefly, wound up and threw the sandwich into the chest of the C.B.P. officer, then ran into the street as officers chased him. A transit police detective, Daina Henry, included screenshots of the video in an affidavit that was included with the criminal complaint. … The detective wrote that the man charged in the crime, identified as Sean C. Dunn, 37, had confessed after he was apprehended. “I did it. I threw the sandwich,” the detective quoted him as saying.

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In a video online, Ms. Pirro said the sandwich thrown at the agent was from Subway, as many had speculated and as a photograph of a wrapper, apparently taken from the scene, had shown. … “He thought it was funny,” Ms. Pirro said of the defendant in a video posted online. “Well, he doesn’t think it’s funny today, because we charged with him with a felony.”

Kirsten Noyes contributed research.

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs reports on national stories across the United States with a focus on criminal justice. He is from upstate New York.