Former U.S.Olympic canoeist David Hearn arrested for allegedly vandalizing Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn was arrested on Friday in Washington, D.C. for allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the Washington Post reported.

Hearn — not to be confused with PGA golfer David Hearn — competed in three Summer Olympics in the canoe slalom, finishing ninth in the C-1 race at the 1996 Atlanta Games. He also raced in the 1992 Barcelona and 2000 Sydney Olympics. Additionally, Hearn won six consecutive world championships in the C-1 team competition from 1979 to 1989, and two individual titles in 1985 and 1995.

The reflecting pool has been in the news recently for efforts from the Trump administration to make the water in the basin appear a clear blue, presumably to look at its best for the celebration of the United States’ 250th anniversary on July 4. The repairs were projected to cost $14 million.

However, the dark blue paint — intended to resemble the blue of the American flag — used by contractors for the bottom of the pool ended up trapping heat from the sun, which raised the temperature of the water. That created an ideal environment for algae to bloom in the pool, turning the water a murky green color.

AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

Efforts by workers to treat the water with chlorine and adding hydrogen peroxide have not alleviated the problem and reduced the algae. Even worse, the blue paint at the bottom of the basin has also begun to peel off in sheets and float to the top of the pool.

Hearn, 67, claimed to the Post’s David J. Lynch that he reached into the pool to touch a piece of the peeled-off paint to see what it felt like. After that, U.S. Park police officers arrested him and charged him with a misdemeanor of destruction of government property, according to the Post.

“I didn’t vandalize anything,” Hearn told the Post on Saturday. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.”

Anna Rose Layden via Getty Images

A reporter on the scene recorded video of Hearn’s arrest and claimed that the former Olympian grabbed a hose that was being used to treat the algae in the water. However, that alleged action was not captured on video.

Hearn denied trying to remove a hose, but admitted to touching a peeling fragment of paint. He visited the reflecting pool while on a 52-mile bicycle ride.

“I reached in there, and I was able to grab the end of that flapping piece, the already peeling piece,” he said. “It was still attached to the bottom. I didn’t remove anything.”

Hearn told the Post that he was detained by police for nearly five hours before being released on Friday night. He is scheduled to appear in D.C. Superior Court on July 9.