Olympian David Hearn was arrested after he allegedly touched the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool amid President Donald Trump’s claims of vandalism during a controversial $14 million renovation. Hearn says he reached in only to feel a detached liner, insisting
By the time David Hearn realized what he’d touched, he was already wearing the cuffs.
The 67-year-old Olympic canoeist said he was taken into custody on suspicion of misdemeanor destruction of government property after he allegedly touched the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. He was detained for five hours before eventually being released. and he is now expected to answer the charge in Washington D.C. Superior Court on July 9.
Hearn described the moment to the Washington Post on Saturday, June 20, saying he stopped at the pool after finishing a 52-mile bike ride. The Reflecting Pool has been at the center of public debate since a controversial $14 million renovation project began painting the bottom “American flag blue.”
The athlete said he noticed a section of detached liner and reached inside the water to check what the piece felt like. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything,” he told the paper. “By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.”
He later added, “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 didn’t remove anything.”
Hearn. who is a 2000 Summer Olympics canoeist. emphasized that he “didn’t vandalize anything.” He also disputed claims attached to the arrest. Conservative Emily Miller posted footage of Hearn’s arrest. saying he’d “grabbed the hose that female National Park Service workers were using to clear the algae.” Hearn denied those accusations. though he acknowledged that his bicycle may have touched the hose.
The U.S. Park Police have not publicly commented on the incident. Us Weekly reached out to the U.S. Park Police for comment.
The arrest landed in the shadow of a larger fight over what’s causing deterioration at the monument. Hours earlier, President Donald Trump claimed via TruthSocial that vandals were responsible for damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
On Friday. June 19. Trump wrote that the administration had “cleaned. renovated. and beautified over 45 Monuments and Memorials. 28 Statues. and 22 Fountains in Washington. D.C. ” adding that “Things are really looking good.” But he then homed in on alleged vandalism at the Reflecting Pool. describing it as sitting “between The Washington Monument and The Lincoln Memorial. ” and saying vandals had “hurt the inside surface that was just installed.”.
Trump also pointed to earlier alleged damage, writing, “Just like three days ago, they destroyed the grass outside of the Pool, they’ve also done everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was just installed.”
Around the same period, The New York Times reported on Friday that the pool appeared to be rejecting elements of its renovation. The paper described excessive peeling, “chunks of coating” and sections of “American flag blue” visible to visitors, along with an ongoing algae problem.
The sequence—Trump’s public insistence on vandalism, the renovation’s visible peeling, and Hearn’s claim that his actions didn’t break or remove anything—has left the core question in sharp focus: what, exactly, was touched, and what was already coming loose?
Hearn’s next step is scheduled: he has been ordered to respond to the charge in Washington D.C. Superior Court on July 9, after being arrested the previous day and held for five hours.
David Hearn Olympian Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Trump vandalism Washington D.C. Superior Court canoeist renovation American flag blue National Park Service algae