Subway sandwich thrower charges with misdemeanor in D.C.

Prosecutors have charged the man accused of throwing a “Subway” sandwich at a federal officer on a Washington, D.C., street with just misdemeanor assault after failing to convince a grand jury to indict him on a felony assault charge, court records show.

Former Department of Justice employee Sean Charles Dunn is accused of tossing the sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection officer on Aug. 10.

That officer and other federal authorities had been deployed to Washington by President Donald Trump to crack down on what the president has claimed is a rampant crime problem in the capital.

Dunn was fired by the DOJ after his arrest.

He faces much less potential time behind bars if convicted of misdemeanor assault than if he were convicted of the felony prosecutors wanted.

Prosecutors lodged a so-called information — a type of charging document — against Dunn in U.S. District Court in D.C. after striking out with the desired grand jury indictment.

CNBC has requested comment from the office of U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, which is prosecuting Dunn.

Dunn’s defense lawyer, Sabrina Shroff, declined to comment.

Dunn’s case is the second one in recent days in which Pirro’s office has been unable to convince a grand jury to issue an indictment in a case involving alleged assaults on federal law enforcement officers.

It is extremely rare for DOJ prosecutors to fail to obtain a requested indictment.

On Monday, Pirro’s prosecutors told a judge that they had been unable in three separate attempts to get grand jurors to indict Sydney Reid, who is accused of forcefully pushing an FBI agent’s hand against a cement wall in late July.

Reid was charged with assault via an information on Monday. She pleaded not guilty on Thursday at her arraignment in D.C. federal court.