Welcome to Arrest Stories. A decorated three-time Olympian was arrested at one of Washington D.C.s most iconic landmarks after stopping to examine something unusual in the water. Heres what may have happened.
On Friday, June nineteenth, twenty twenty-six, sixty-seven-year-old David Hearn, a former United States Olympic canoeist from Bethesda, Maryland, was arrested by U.S. Park Police at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. Hearn faces a misdemeanor charge of destruction of government property.
According to Hearn, he had been in the middle of a fifty-two-mile bike ride when he stopped at the memorial to look at the recently renovated pool. The pool had undergone a more than fourteen million dollar renovation, which included a newly applied American flag blue liner. Hearn told The Washington Post that he noticed a section of the liner that appeared to be partially detached and reached into the water to examine it.
Quote: I reached in there, and I was able to grab the end of that flapping piece, the already peeling piece. It was still attached to the bottom. I did not remove anything.
Hearn says he let go of the piece shortly after a park worker told him to stop. Moments later, he was placed in handcuffs. Video of the arrest circulated widely online, showing Hearn in his cycling gear being confronted by National Guard members and then cuffed by Park Police officers.
Hearn was taken to a Park Police facility at Hains Point and held for nearly five hours before being released at around nine p.m. local time.
He firmly denied any wrongdoing. Quote: I did not vandalize anything. I did not destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.
He also denied claims made online that he interfered with a hose being used by National Park Service workers to clear algae, though he acknowledged his bicycle may have brushed against it.
Hearn competed in the whitewater slalom canoe at the nineteen ninety-two, nineteen ninety-six, and two thousand Summer Olympics. He also won gold medals at the nineteen eighty-five and nineteen ninety-five World Championships, along with five silver medals.
Later that same Friday night, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social stating, quote: Park Police have arrested multiple individuals for vandalizing our nations magnificent Reflecting Pool. Who would do such a thing? These are very serious crimes having to do with the destruction of National Monuments. Years in jail.
Hearn is scheduled to appear in D.C. Superior Court on July ninth.
All suspects presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Do not take this report as factual, always verify facts. Thanks for watching Arrest Stories.