Former US Olympian David Hearn indicted in alleged Reflecting Pool vandalism
Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David “Davey” Hearn was indicted on a felony destruction of property charge after his arrest last month at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., according to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.
Hearn, a former U.S. Olympic canoeist, was charged Thursday in D.C. Superior Court after the June 19 incident.
Hearn has denied damaging the recently renovated Reflecting Pool, saying he stopped during a bike ride and merely touched a loose piece of the peeling blue coating “to satisfy my curiosity as a citizen.”
The indictment comes after several people were arrested or cited for alleged damage to the Reflecting Pool, which underwent a more than $14 million rehabilitation project under President Donald Trump.
The president previously blamed vandals for the damage to the pool, which features a blue coating he calls “American flag blue.”
Hearn’s attorney has responded to the indictment.
“Davey Hearn is innocent. These charges are outrageous and should be alarming to every American. This indictment reflects the Administration’s effort to shift blame for their own failures. On the eve of our nation’s Independence Day, Americans should be deeply concerned by the misuse of government power against an ordinary citizen based on a concocted narrative. The justice system exists to determine facts, not provide political cover,” the statement read.
Hearn’s arrest became a viral sensation after it was captured by journalist Emily Miller. Miller filmed a two-minute video of Hearn being detained, which quickly went viral on X.
Miller accused Hearn of grabbing a hose that female National Park Service workers were using to clear the algae. Hearn denied the accusation, though he admitted his bike tire might have bumped it.
“I didn’t vandalize anything,” Hearn told The Washington Post. “By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.”
Hearn was arrested by the U.S. Park Police nearly 30 years ago and ended up beating the charges, according to a 1996 Washington Post article.
That year, the Potomac River turned violent, as intense, heavy rains pushed the water to a terrifying, near-record flood level of 60,000 cubic feet per second.
Authorities immediately issued an emergency river closure. But Hearn took his whitewater canoe straight into the raging rapids, where officers later swooped in and arrested him.
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He was charged with failing to obey a lawful order. But Hearn fought the case in court and won on a stunning technicality. But a federal judge dismissed the charges, ruling the Potomac River is controlled by the state of Maryland, meaning the federal Park Police had zero jurisdiction over the water.
Hearn also donated to Democratic fundraising apparatus ActBlue 10 times while also contributing to Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns five times, an administration official told Fox News Digital.
As an Olympian, Hearn represented the United States in three Summer Olympics and says he carried the Olympic torch through Washington, D.C., for the 1996 Atlanta Games.
“It was an incredible honor to be a torch-bearer for the Olympics in my own state,” according to his website, Davey Hearn.
His older sister Cathy is a two-time Olympian in women’s kayaking and in 1979 won an unprecedented three gold medals at the World Championships. She was also a member of the 2001 World Championship Team.
Fox News Digital’s Ashley J. DiMella contributed to this report.
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