Border Patrol officer hit by sandwich testifies at defendant’s trial: Man said ‘we were fascist’

A Border Patrol officer who was hit by a sandwich thrown at him by a former Justice Department employee testified at the defendant’s trial, which starts its second day on Wednesday, saying that the man said “we were fascist.”

Greg Lairmore, a Border Patrol division chief who has been with Customs and Border Protection for 23 years, testified on Tuesday at the trial of Sean Dunn, who threw a Subway-style sandwich at him in Washington, D.C., this summer during the federal takeover of the city, CNN reported.

Dunn has been charged with misdemeanor assault for the incident, over which he was fired from the DOJ.

A grand jury declined to indict Dunn on a felony assault count related to the incident. However, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office opted to charge him instead with a misdemeanor, according to Politico.

Dunn’s attorney, Julia Gatto, told the jury on Tuesday regarding her client, “He did it. He threw the sandwich.”

She added that the federal government “turned that moment, a thrown sandwich, into a criminal case. A federal criminal case charging a federal criminal offense.”

In Lairmore’s testimony, he said that Dunn “became really irritated and started yelling obscenities” at him and other officers that night before throwing “a subway-style sandwich at me that struck me in the chest.”

“It smelled of onions and mustard,” Lairmore said about the sandwich, which “exploded all over my chest.”

He testified that Dunn called him “and my colleagues all kinds of names. Saying we were fascist.”

“I didn’t respond. That’s his constitutional right to express his opinion,” Lairmore said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Parron told the jury during opening statements Tuesday, “Look, I understand you may all have views of the federal law enforcement presence in D.C. And that’s fine, we’re not trying to convince you otherwise. But respectfully, that’s not what this case is about. This case is about the fact that you can’t go around throwing stuff at people when you’re mad.”

“When we have disputes, we settle them verbally,” he added, arguing that Dunn threw the sandwich and “forcibly assaulted” Lairmore.

Gatto said that her client “thinks recent immigration enforcement is racist,” adding that he viewed the local federal takeover of D.C. law enforcement as “fascism.”

Regarding the charge against her client, Gatto said, “bodily injury, that’s the standard.”

“They will not come close to convincing you beyond a reasonable doubt the conduct was forcible,” she added.