US drops Reflecting Pool case, admits damage due to botched work

WASHINGTON - The US Justice Department on July 31 dropped its case against a former Olympian accused of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, saying the hurried renovations ordered by President Donald Trump had actually just been botched.

David Hearn, 67, had been charged with felony vandalism in federal court, which carried a potential sentence of 10 years in jail.

Federal prosecutor Jeanine Pirro had announced the charges in a high-profile press briefing earlier in July, saying witnesses had viewed Hearn “forcefully and violently” pulling up the pool’s new liner on June 19.

But in a court filing on July 31, Pirro said new revelations “undermine the evidentiary basis for the indictment”, and moved for dismissal.

She said that new documents indicate that the damage to the landmark “was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism as initially represented” by the Interior Department.

Trump had personally overseen the renovation of the Reflecting Pool, including the addition of an “American flag blue” liner.

It was one of several “beautification” projects around the US capital that Trump had ordered ahead of the July 4 celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.

But problems arose shortly after the pool was refilled, with algae quickly regrowing and the new liner peeling in multiple places.

Hearn, who competed in three Olympic Summer Games in canoeing, told US media he visited the refurbished pool after a long bike ride and noticed a piece of partially detached liner.

He reached into the water to see what it felt like, and as he prepared to leave, US Park Police arrested him.

“I didn’t vandalise anything,” Hearn told The Washington Post in June. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realised what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.”

His lawyers had sought to have the case dismissed, arguing it represented a politicised justice system under Trump.

His lawyers Norm Eisen, Mary Dohrmann and Steve Levin said in a statement on July 31 that the case “should never have been brought”.

“Its dismissal today does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who did nothing wrong,” they said.

“The government’s approach was ready, fire, aim. The administration owes Mr Hearn an apology.” AFP