A former Olympic athlete is pushing back after he was charged with vandalism over allegations that he damaged the newly refinished surface of the Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC, on Friday.
David Hearn, 62, told the Daily Mail that both his arrest and the charges were absurd, arguing they were being used to support what he called a misleading storyline. He also shared a photo showing damage to the pool’s exterior coating.
‘It’s a completely unfounded accusation. It’s a lie,’ Hearn said in a phone interview. ‘I didn’t rip, tear, destruct, destroy, or harm in any way, any part of the reflecting pool.’
Hearn acknowledged that he touched what he described as a ‘loose flap of coating,’ but insisted he only did so out of ‘curious’ interest as ‘a concerned citizen.’
President Trump had promoted the $16 million overhaul as part of his broader effort to improve the appearance of Washington, DC, in advance of America’s 250th anniversary.
However, less than two weeks after the work was finished, the fresh coating began to peel and algae blooms left the water looking green. Trump acknowledged over the weekend that the pool may have to be drained so repairs can be made.
‘They clearly wanted a news story that they could promote that was centered around vandals damaging the reflecting pool,’ Hearn said, maintaining that he had done nothing improper.
David Hearn, 62, a former Olympian, was arrested Friday on allegations that he vandalized the recently renovated Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC.
The Reflecting Pool renovations were completed on June 6, but algae blooms started appearing, and the paint started peeling less than two weeks later
Hearn is pictured getting arrested by the Reflecting Pool on Friday
Hearn took this photo of the peeling paint shortly before he was arrested. He said that he merely touched it and denied damaging it in any way
‘Officers were ready to arrest me and other people they found who they could have some contrived basis of charges on to accuse them of vandalism,’ Hearn said.
Hearn added that he had taken a photo of the peeling paint shortly before he was arrested and shared the picture with the Daily Mail.
Video of Hearn’s arrest showed the Olympian standing by the Reflecting Pool with his bike before getting approached by two National Guard soldiers. The video then shows him walking over to four police officers and a third National Guard soldier.
A fifth officer dressed in a white shirt – identified by Hearn as Lieutenant Stone – can then be seen talking to the Olympian, whose hands were cuffed behind his back. Hearn said Stone ‘seemed to be the driving force behind the arrest.’
The White House did not respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment on Hearn’s claims.
On Saturday, Trump made a series of posts on Truth Social blaming the reflecting pool’s green water and peeling paint on vandalism.
Trump claimed without evidence that people had ‘poured corrosive and destructive chemicals into the Pool’ and said that US Park Police ‘arrested multiple individuals for vandalizing our Nations magnificent Reflecting Pool.’
The president also wrote: ‘Who would do such a thing? These are very serious crimes having to do with the destruction of National Monuments.’ A couple hours earlier, he made another post sharing an article about Hearn’s arrest.
Hearn claimed he did not go into the water at all ‘other than the tips of my fingers,’ and that he touched the coating for less than a minute before he was approached by a National Park Service employee and arrested shortly thereafter.
‘We’ve already heard many lies from this administration,’ Hearn said. ‘That’s just another lie.’
Hearn claimed that the Trump administration was hoping to pin ‘any problems with the Reflecting Pool’ on vandals
Donald Trump shared a series of posts on Truth Social blaming the conditions of the Reflecting Pool on vandals, and he even shared an article about Hearn’s arrest
Hearn also shockingly claimed that he was never read his Miranda rights when he was arrested.
The Olympian said he was placed in ‘very tight handcuffs’ behind his back before he was placed in a jail cell for five hours.
He said the cell was ‘fairly clean,’ but it was a ‘scary’ experience because ‘with the government that we’re under and right now, there have been many unlawful detentions.’
‘I was happy I wasn’t in ICE custody, and I was happy I wasn’t being sent to El Salvador, but there was a high degree of uncertainty over when I was going to be released,’ Hearn added over the phone.
The Olympian claimed that during his five-hour stay behind bars he was not allowed to make a phone call, was not offered food or water and was told his imprisonment ‘was an open-ended detention,’ which meant he was not told when he would be released.
‘The conditions of the jail were physically good, but mentally difficult,’ Hearn told the Daily Mail.
Hearn said that in theory, he was pleased with the effort to renovate parks and national monuments in Washington DC, but he emphasized that the projects would be ‘more well received’ without ‘a sort of a baggage of corruption to it.’
A company with ties to a Trump donor was offered a no-bid contract to install a water-purification system in the Reflecting Pool, which has experienced algae blooms since the renovation was completed
National Park Service workers use vacuum pumps to clean algae off the bottom of the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool
He said that ‘slush funds’ and ‘no-bid contracts,’ such as the kind received by the company that repainted the Reflecting Pool, do not resemble ‘the level of ethics that we expect from our leaders.’
The Reflecting Pool was drained in April and refinished in ‘American Flag Blue,’ a color hand-selected by Trump.
The president initially said that the cost of renovation would be around $1.8 million, but in late May, the government agreed to pay $13.1 million for the project.
The final price tag ballooned yet again, to about $16.4 million, a more than eight-fold increase from the initially-stated sum.
The pool was recoated and painted by Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings, which was offered a $14.7 million no-bid contract with a 20 percent profit margin.
Federal construction project contracts typically offer profit margins of between six percent and 12 percent, according to a federal Park Service contracting specialist analysis reviewed by the New York Times.
Greenwater Services of Brookfield, the company with ties to a Trump donor, was offered a $1.7 million no-bid contract to install a water-purification system in the reflecting pool, which has experienced algae blooms since the renovation was completed.
Hearn was an accomplished canoeist who competed in the sport competitively from the late 1970s to the early 2000s.
Hearn said that no-bid contracts for federal construction projects do not amount to ‘the level of ethics that we expect from our leaders.’ The Reflecting Pool is pictured with green water
Hearn told the Daily Mail that although his experience with being arrested and becoming the center of a nationally-covered story has been daunting, he is thankful to ‘have a lot of support from my community.’
The Olympian said that he has received multiple offers of pro bono counsel from ‘some very large reputable law firms in the area.’
Hearn added that he is scheduled to appear in court on July 9.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Trump administration, as well as Atlantic Industrial Coatings and Greenwater Services of Brookfield for comment.
