{"id":2558,"date":"2026-08-01T18:15:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T18:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=2558"},"modified":"2026-08-01T18:15:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T18:15:07","slug":"charges-dropped-against-olympian-arrested-for-touching-the-reflecting-pool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/?p=2558","title":{"rendered":"Charges dropped against Olympian arrested for touching the Reflecting Pool"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"show-inline-featured-image wp-caption alignnone\">\n<figure class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-main-thumbnail size-main-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/08\/01114412\/reflectingpool-664x350.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 664px) 100vw, 664px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/08\/01114412\/reflectingpool-664x350.jpg 664w, https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/08\/01114412\/reflectingpool-400x210.jpg 400w, https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/08\/01114412\/reflectingpool-412x216.jpg 412w, https:\/\/cdn-main.newsner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/08\/01114412\/reflectingpool.jpg 1200w\" alt=\"\" width=\"664\" height=\"350\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Credit \/ Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Charges against Olympic canoeist arrested at the Reflecting Pool were dropped.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"newsner-128104667\" class=\"newsner-after_first_paragraph\">\n<div id=\"intext_197506_1_wrapper\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Department of Justice has moved to drop all charges against David Hearn, the 67-year-old three-time Olympian who was arrested and charged with a felony after touching a piece of peeling sealant at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool during a bike ride in June.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hearn had faced up to ten years in prison\u00a0on a single felony count of property destruction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He maintained throughout that he had simply reached into the water to look at a piece of lining that was already coming away from the pool floor, and let go of it immediately when asked by park staff.<\/p>\n<div id=\"newsner-e420644c78c2bdf949eaeb71a754c11f\" class=\"newsner-e420644c78c2bdf949eaeb71a754c11f newsner-incide_content_once\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a 20-page court filing submitted Friday, federal prosecutors admitted that newly reviewed evidence proved no vandalism was committed.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-the-real-issue-was-the-flawed-installation\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The real issue was the flawed installation<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro wrote in the motion to dismiss that the pool\u2019s extensive peeling was the result of a \u201cflawed installation by the contractor\u201d and a \u201crush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cGiven all of this newly discovered information, it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt,\u201d Pirro wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A National Park Service witness had previously admitted under oath that the pool was already leaking millions of gallons of water per week before Hearn ever touched it.<\/p>\n<div id=\"newsner-1713099878\" class=\"newsner-article_inside_content\">\n<div id=\"intext_197506_2_wrapper\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsner-951094ad0e380ab56ba43cf5955ca295\" class=\"newsner-951094ad0e380ab56ba43cf5955ca295 newsner-amp_article_inside_content\"><\/div>\n<h2 id=\"h-hearn-s-legal-team-not-satisfied\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Hearn\u2019s legal team not satisfied<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hearn\u2019s legal team welcomed the dismissal but made clear they were not satisfied with how the case had been handled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIts dismissal today does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who did nothing wrong,\u201d his lawyers said in a joint statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe government\u2019s approach was ready, fire, aim. The administration owes Mr Hearn an apology.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Reflecting Pool had been renovated as part of a $15 million overhaul ahead of America\u2019s 250th birthday celebrations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Within days of being filled, large sections of the newly installed blue lining began bubbling, tearing and peeling away. Donald Trump publicly accused \u201cRadical Left Lunatics\u201d of deliberately destroying the pool and said law enforcement was investigating.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the case against Hearn formally collapsed, legal analysts expect the remaining misdemeanor cases against other visitors who touched the peeling liner to be dismissed shortly as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Credit \/ Getty Charges against Olympic canoeist arrested at the Reflecting Pool were dropped. The Department of Justice has moved to drop all charges against David Hearn, the 67-year-old three-time &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2],"class_list":["post-2558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trending","tag-breaking-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2558"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2559,"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2558\/revisions\/2559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejoeroganpod.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}