\u201cI didn\u2019t vandalize anything,\u201d David Hearn, 67, told The Washington Post<\/a> on Saturday. \u201cI didn\u2019t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. Park Police officers charged Hearn with misdemeanor destruction of government property and released him to appear in District of Columbia Superior Court on July 9, according to The Post.<\/p>\n A National Park Service spokesperson didn\u2019t immediately return an inquiry from The Independent.<\/p>\n The incident came the same day that President Donald Trump alleged that vandals<\/a> had \u201cdone everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was just installed\u201d to \u201cdestroy and demean our beautiful work.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump ordered the pool renovated ahead of nation\u2019s upcoming 250th Independence Day on July 4 and said it would cost roughly $1.5 million but the price tag has reached nearly $14.7 million.<\/p>\n Within days of the project\u2019s completion<\/a>, the pool\u2019s water was fouled by algae<\/a> that turned it green<\/a> and the blue coating began separating from the basin.<\/p>\n Late Saturday afternoon, Trump claimed without evidence that the Park Police had \u201carrested multiple individuals\u201d for vandalizing the pool and threatened, \u201cYears in jail!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWork will begin immediately on its repair,\u201d he added<\/p>\n Hearn, of Bethesda, is a two-time whitewater racing world champion who competed in the canoe slalom at three Olympic Games, according to The Post.<\/p>\n His arrest on Friday was caught on camera by conservative journalist Emily Miller, who posted a two-minute video clip on social media that showed him detained by two National Guard members and then surrounded by Park Police officers, The Post said.<\/p>\n Miller reportedly wrote that Hearn allegedly \u201cgrabbed the hose that female National Park Service workers were using to clear the algae.\u201d<\/p>\n Audio of the encounter was largely drowned out by the sound of a pump, The Post said.<\/p>\n On Saturday, Hearn said his arrest came while he was on a planned 52-mile bicycle ride. <\/p>\n He denied touching the hose but said his bicycle may have accidentally come into contact with it.<\/p>\n When asked to describe his actions, he said, \u201cI 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\u2019t remove anything.\u201d <\/p>\n Hearn said he was kept in custody for almost five hours at a nearby Park Police facility before being released shortly after 9 p.m. Friday, after which he rode home on his bike.<\/p>\n Hearn was previously arrested by the Park Police in 1996 for canoeing on the Potomac River after heavy rains raised it to a near-record level, according to The Post.<\/p>\n But charges of failing to obey a lawful order and interfering with police were dismissed by a federal judge because the river was under Maryland\u2019s jurisdiction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,218651,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-649703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-lincoln-memorial-reflecting-pool","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"US](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781998337_87_download.-1..jpeg\")
US Park Police arrested a two-time Olympian accused of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which was recently coated with \u2018American flag blue\u2019 sealant that is starting to peel off to the surface (AP)<\/p>\n![\"Recently](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781998339_121_download.-1..jpeg\")
Recently applied dark blue sealant is starting to peel off despite a $14.7 million renovation project (AP)<\/p>\n