A former American Olympic athlete briefly arrested in June near the immense pool adjoining the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, renovated under the leadership of President Donald Trump, was charged Thursday with damage to public property, punishable by ten years in prison.
On June 22, Donald Trump, who blames acts of “vandalism” for the succession of problems facing this project, threatened the perpetrators with prison sentences, after several arrests by the national park police.
Among those arrested was David Hearn, 67, who represented the United States in canoeing at the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Olympics.
“Today a grand jury issued an indictment against David Hearn for criminal destruction, for which he faces ten years in prison,” Capital Federal Prosecutor Jeanine Pirro said at a press conference.
The federal prosecutor of the capital, Jeanine Pirro.
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The events occurred on June 19, she said, adding that according to testimony from National Park Service employees, David Hearn “violently pulled and removed the liner from the bottom of the pool with both hands.”
A first hearing is scheduled for July 9.
David Hearn “is innocent. These accusations are scandalous and should worry every American,” his lawyers responded in a statement, denouncing an “attempt by the administration to shift the blame for its own failures.”
Among the other people arrested, half a dozen could be prosecuted for misdemeanor or receive a ticket, the prosecutor said.
David Hearn himself had already given his version of the facts to the Washington Post in June.
“I reached out and was able to grab the end of that piece that was dangling, that piece that was already flaking off. It was still attached to the bottom. I didn’t remove anything,” he said, claiming to have then been surrounded by two soldiers from the National Guard and then arrested by agents of the national park police for damage to public property.
Algae infestation, peeling paint, greenish coloring: this gigantic mirror of water, an emblematic site of the American capital, has been accumulating problems since the renovation decided by Donald Trump.
Far from taking responsibility, the former real estate developer denounced so-called “saboteurs” who would have cut the lining of the basin or dumped fertilizer into the water.
