Federal prosecutors have asked a court to dismiss a felony vandalism case against David Hearn, a former U.S. Olympic canoeist, after newly disclosed government records showed that damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington was caused by flawed contractor work rather than by the athlete.
Hearn was indicted on July 2 on one count of felony destruction of property. U.S. Park Police alleged that he grabbed and tugged at a loose section of the pool's coating on June 19 and continued even after a National Park Service employee told him to stop. Officials initially said the damage exceeded $1,000.
In a 20-page filing made public Friday, the U.S. attorney's office for the District of Columbia said the Department of the Interior had initially passed prosecutors only «barebones» reports and had failed to disclose records documenting extensive problems with the installation of the pool's coating.
«Had DOI been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment,» prosecutors wrote in the filing.
According to prosecutors, the Interior Department supplied the additional documents only after the indictment had already been returned. Those documents indicated that the damage to the Reflecting Pool was the result of «flawed installation by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings,» and of the rush to complete the project before events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026.
The Justice Department said the new evidence made it difficult for the government to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hearn caused the damage. Prosecutors asked the court to dismiss the indictment without prejudice, a step that leaves open the possibility of bringing the charge again.
The case is not the first time Hearn has faced federal charges. Nearly 30 years ago, U.S. Park Police arrested him after he paddled his whitewater canoe into the Potomac River while it was swollen by heavy rains and closed to boating at a near-record flood level. He was charged with failing to obey a lawful order, but a federal judge dismissed the case, ruling that the Potomac is controlled by the state of Maryland and that the federal Park Police had no jurisdiction over the water.
The June arrest drew widespread attention after journalist Emily Miller filmed a two-minute video of Hearn being detained, which quickly went viral on the social media platform X. Miller accused Hearn of grabbing a hose that National Park Service workers were using to clear algae from the pool. Hearn denied the accusation, though he admitted that his bicycle tire might have bumped it.
Hearn's attorneys are now demanding an apology from the administration. «The Trump administration's case against Davey Hearn should never have been brought. Its dismissal today does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who did nothing wrong. The government's approach was ready, fire, aim. The administration owes Mr. Hearn an apology,» lawyers Norm Eisen, Mary Dohrmann and Steve Levin said in a statement. The Interior Department was contacted for comment on the filing.