Former U.S. Olympian David Hearn, arrested on misdemeanor charges for allegedly damaging the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, says he was never read his Miranda rights and intends to fight the charges. Hearn, 67, denied on Monday that he vandalized government property, insisting he only reached into the water to feel the pool's new liner.
His attorney, Norm Eisen, argued in an interview on MS Now that federal authorities lack legal grounds for the two misdemeanor citations. “It’s not a federal crime to touch water,” Eisen said, vowing to contest the case vigorously. Hearn, a Bethesda, Maryland resident and former canoe slalom racer, was detained for nearly five hours, according to The Washington Post.
The arrest comes amid ongoing scrutiny of the Reflecting Pool's multimillion-dollar renovation, which has been plagued by algae blooms and peeling paint shortly after completion. President Trump announced on Saturday that “multiple individuals” had been arrested for vandalism, a claim critics say is an attempt to deflect attention from persistent maintenance failures. The incident adds to a series of troubles for the project, including reports of dead ducks found near the pool.
Hearn said he stopped at the Reflecting Pool during a 52-mile bicycle ride to inspect the refurbished site. He noticed a piece of the “American flag blue” liner partially detached from the pool floor and reached into the water to feel it before Park Police detained him. “I didn’t vandalize anything,” he told the Post. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.”
During his detention, Hearn claimed he was unable to contact anyone. “I didn’t know how long I was going to be held,” he said. “I had not been allowed to make a phone call. Nobody really knew I was there. I was held incommunicado the whole time.” The incident echoes broader concerns about the Trump administration's handling of the renovation, which has faced criticism over costs and quality, as highlighted in reports about the pool's algae and peeling paint.
Hearn is scheduled to appear in D.C. Superior Court on July 9. The case has drawn attention to the administration's broader pattern of blaming vandalism for the Reflecting Pool's woes, including after Trump's social media outburst about arrests. Legal experts question whether the charges will hold, given the lack of evidence of intentional damage.
