FORMER OLYMPIAN ARRESTED AT LINCOLN MEMORIAL REFLECTING POOL

David Hearn, a 67-year-old former Olympic athlete from Maryland, was arrested on Friday at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington DC. U.S. Park Police officers charged Hearn with misdemeanor destruction of government property. Hearn claims he was arrested for reaching into the pool to touch a piece of sealant that was coming away from its basin, and told The Washington Post on Saturday that he did not vandalize, destroy, break or peel anything. He stated that he was handcuffed before he realised what was occurring. He has been released to appear in District of Columbia Superior Court on July 9.

Hearn is a two-time whitewater racing world champion who competed in the canoe slalom at three Olympic Games. The arrest occurred the same day that President Donald Trump alleged vandals had damaged the pool's interior surface. Trump had ordered the Reflecting Pool renovated ahead of the nation's 250th Independence Day on 4 July, initially stating the cost would be approximately $2 million, though the final price exceeded $14 million. Within days of the project's completion, the pool's water became fouled by algae that turned it green, and the basin's coating began separating and floating to the surface.

A National Park Service spokesperson did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the incident. The circumstances surrounding the arrest remain under investigation ahead of Hearn's scheduled court appearance.