A former Olympic canoeist is facing a felony charge. He says he was just curious.
David “Davey” Hearn represented the United States in whitewater canoeing at the Olympics. Last month, he says, he stopped his bike at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. He saw a piece of loose blue coating. He touched it.
Now he’s indicted for destruction of property.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced the charge Thursday in D.C. Superior Court. The incident happened June 19, during the pool’s $14 million restoration — a project pushed by President Trump, who calls the coating “American flag blue.” Several others have already been arrested or cited over damage to the same pool.
Hearn denies vandalizing anything. He says he stopped to look, not to break. He admits his bike tire may have bumped a hose that National Park Service workers were using nearby. Journalist Emily Miller filmed his arrest. The video went viral. Miller says Hearn grabbed the hose from female NPS workers. Hearn says that’s not what happened.
“I didn’t vandalize anything,” he told The Washington Post. “By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.”
This isn’t Hearn’s first run-in with federal authorities at the water’s edge. Thirty years ago, he paddled his canoe into a flooding, closed-off Potomac River during a historic storm. Park Police arrested him. He fought the case — and won. A federal judge ruled the Park Police had no jurisdiction over the Potomac at all. That river belongs to Maryland.
Now there’s a new wrinkle. Fox News Digital has learned Hearn donated to ActBlue ten times. He gave to Barack Obama’s campaigns five times, too.
A retired canoeist. A touched piece of paint. A viral video. And now a felony charge that will be argued, like the last one, over what the government can actually prove — and what it can’t.
BREAKING: Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn has been charged by a federal grand jury with destruction of property after allegedly damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool last month, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced.
"On June 19th, he reached down into the pool.… pic.twitter.com/SppDyHNXr7
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 2, 2026
