David Hearn was indicted Thursday on a felony destruction-of-property charge after his arrest at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The former U.S. Olympic canoeist now faces a criminal proceeding tied to a place that has drawn attention for damage claims, arrests and citations.
David Hearn and the Reflecting Pool
Hearn said he was detained for five hours on June 19 after stopping during a bike ride. He told News he paused there “to satisfy my curiosity as a citizen of what was happening with all the algae and the peeling blue coating.”
He also said, “The condition of the Reflecting Pool was the same after I stepped away from the water as it was before I got there.” That account sits at the center of the case: Hearn describes a brief touch of detached coating, while prosecutors used a felony destruction-of-property charge in D.C. Superior Court.
The indictment followed Hearn’s arrest last month at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. For a reader tracking the case, the change is concrete: a disputed stop at the water has moved from an arrest into a felony charge, and the charge now controls the legal risk he faces.
June 9 incident at the pool
The Reflecting Pool underwent a $14-million-plus rehabilitation project this spring, with a new liner and coating added in a color Trump named “American flag blue.” Photos of the pool showed the blue sealant peeling away, with chunks floating on the surface, and algae turning the water green.
That broader damage picture matters because the pool has already been pulled into public dispute. Several people have been arrested and cited after President Donald Trump blamed vandals for destroying the pool without evidence, while the National Park Service said the liner of the bottom of the pool was cut with a sharp knife or razor and that the June 9 incident was reported to the U.S. Park Police. Frank Lands said roughly 70 fence post tops were also thrown into the pool.
The case now turns on what evidence prosecutors say connects Hearn to destruction of property rather than a brief touch of already detached coating. Hearn has given one account of what he did; the felony indictment says the government sees the same stop differently.
