Getty ImagesAn employee of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) was arrested for throwing a subway sandwich to Washington, D.C. as part of President Donald Trump’s vow to suppress the crime.
Sean Charles Dunn, who worked in the Justice Department’s criminal department, was fired in the video of the incident. He was charged with felony assault.
The presence of federal law enforcement officers and the National Guard has led to widespread anger in most democratic cities.
Republican Trump said deployment is necessary to fight crime and evacuate “drug-addicted madmen and homeless people.” Local police data show violent crime in Washington, D.C. is at a 30-year low.
Mr Dunn threw a “submarine sandwich” among Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officials on Sunday, according to the charging documents.
In videos of the incidents alleged by prosecutors, the suspects were called agents “fascists” and screamed for blasphemy against them.
“Why are you here? I don’t want you to be in my city.” He shouted before crossing the street.
He later returned and saw the wrapped sandwich throwing the wrapped sandwich into the chest of a uniformed agent who appeared to be wearing a bulletproof vest.
Then, as the officer chased him, he fled on foot. According to prosecutors, Mr. Dunn admitted after being arrested on Wednesday, telling investigators: “I did. I threw a sandwich.”
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, the top law enforcement officer in the United States and oversees the Justice Department, posted information about the incident on social media on Thursday.
“I just learned that the defendant worked in the Justice Department – no longer. Not only was he fired, he was also charged with a felony.”
CBS News, a US partner at the BBC, said Mr. Dunn has been working as a trial attorney for the Bureau of International Affairs in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice.
U.S. attorney for Jeanine Pirro in Washington, D.C. said in a video announcing Dunn’s arrest that he “suggested it was interesting.
She continued, “So there, stick your subway sandwich somewhere else.”
The anomalous nature of the incident led to several jokes online, including the comment “Attack with a cooked food weapon”, a gag that received more than 1,500 votes on Reddit.
CBS reported that the local judge refused to file a lawsuit before a federal judge allowed the assault charge. Mr. Dunn is currently available for bail for up to eight years.
Officials did not say whether the official was injured in the incident.
About 100 people have been arrested since agents and troops began to arrive in the U.S. capital on Monday.
In addition to the National Guard forces, there are agents from the FBI, the U.S. Marshal Service, the Alcohol, Tobacco and Guns Bureau (ATF), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Secret Service.
The deployment led to protests in the region because the federal government did not have the same rights as the U.S. states.
In addition to the deployment of these federal officials, Trump also used provisions under the District of Columbia Family Rule Act to place the New York City police department under direct federal control.
The bill was enacted in 1973 by former President Richard Nixon, allowing Washington, D.C. residents (about 700,000 people living in Congress and no formal voting representatives) to elect the city council and mayor.
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