A US imigration agent has testified he could feel through his ballistic vest the impact of a sandwich hurled at him by a Washington DC protester, who has gone on trial for assault.
Customs and Border Patrol agent Gregory Lairmore told the jury the snack “exploded all over him” and he “could smell the onions and mustard” on his uniform.
Neither side disputes that Sean Dunn, 37, did in fact lob obscenities and a deli-style sandwich at officers deployed by President Donald Trump to patrol the nation’s capital in August. But Mr Dunn’s lawyer argues it was not a criminal act.
The incident was captured on video and went viral, making Mr Dunn a symbol of opposition in Washington DC to Trump.
Government prosecutors initially tried to secure felony charges against Mr Dunn, but a grand jury declined to indict him. Prosecutors have instead charged him with a lower-level misdemeanour assault.
Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Washington DC this summer sparked outrage from some of the city’s residents, who saw it as a politicisation of the military. The White House argued the forces were necessary to crack down on crime.
According to charging documents, Mr Dunn approached a group of officers at about 23:00 on 10 August, calling them “fascists” and shouting: “Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!”
The court witnessed a re-enactment from Mr Lairmore on Tuesday as he took the stand to testify against Mr Dunn.
“I could feel it through my ballistic vest,” he said of the sandwich’s impact, adding that an onion string hung from his police radio and mustard stained his shirt.
Mr Dunn’s lawyer, Julia Gatto, said in her opening statement that hurling the sandwich was a “harmless gesture that did not, could not, cause injury”.
But prosecutor John Parron said Mr Dunn must be held accountable.
“No matter who you are, you can’t just go around throwing stuff at people because you’re mad,” Mr Parron said, according to the New York Times.
After the alleged assault came to light, Mr Dunn was fired from his job as a paralegal in the Department of Justice.
A man, who was later arrested for assaulting law enforcement with a sandwich, interacts with Border Patrol and FBI agents along the U Street corridor on 10 August. [Getty Images]
