Former Olympian charged in Reflecting Pool incident
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced that former Olympic athlete David Hearn was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury following his arrest last month at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC.
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Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleaded not guilty Thursday to willfully damaging the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool.
Hearn, 67, pleaded guilty through one of his attorneys during his first appearance in Washington Superior Court.
Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean did not require Hearn to be supervised by the court while awaiting trial. A status hearing was scheduled for August 5.
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USA’s David Hearn competes in the Men’s Whitewater Canoe C1 Final of the 2000 Summer Olympics at Penrith Whitewater Stadium. Penrith, Australia, September 18, 2000. (David Madison/Getty Images)
Hearn was charged last week with felony destruction of property following his arrest in connection with the June 19 incident. Hearn denied damaging the pool, saying he stopped during a bike ride and touched a piece of the peeling blue liner “to satisfy my curiosity as a citizen.”
Prosecutor Kevin Reddington said the government was not seeking court supervision for Hearn, just a “dismissal order,” without telling the court what it wanted to keep Hearn away from.
Mary Dohrmann, one of Hearn’s lawyers, urged the judge not to impose conditions of court supervision, calling Hearn an “upstanding citizen and member of the community.”
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USA’s David Hearn competes in the Men’s Whitewater Canoe C1 Final of the 2000 Summer Olympics at Penrith Whitewater Stadium. Penrith, Australia, September 18, 2000. (David Madison/Getty Images)
Dohrmann also said the government’s “evidence is weak.”
The Reflecting Pool was recently the subject of a $14 million rehabilitation project under President Trump. Hearn’s indictment came after several people were arrested or cited for allegedly damaging the reflecting pool.
Video of Hearn’s arrest went viral on X after being captured by journalist Emily Miller. Miller accused the former Olympian of grabbing a hose that National Park Service workers used to remove algae.
Hearn denied the charge but admitted his bike tire could have hit the pipe.
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David Hearn of the United States performs during the Olympic Slalom Trials. May 16, 1992. (Doug Pensinger/Allsport)
“I didn’t vandalize anything,” Hearn told the Washington Post. “By the time I realized what was happening, I was being handcuffed.”
Records show Hearn has ties to a major left-wing fundraising network.
Hearn represented the United States at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
