Olympic kayaker indicted for allegedly damaging D.C. reflecting pool
by Lisa Hornung · UPIJuly 2 (UPI) -- U.S. Olympian David "Davey" Hearn was indicted Thursday on a charge of destruction of property following his arrest last month.
Hearn told NBC News he was arrested and detained for five hours June 19 after he touched a piece of the detached coating in the pool.
He said he had stopped at the landmark during a bike ride "to satisfy my curiosity as a citizen of what was happening with all the algae and the peeling blue coating."
Hearn, 67, said he did not remove, tear or destroy any of the coating.
The condition of the Reflecting Pool was the same after I stepped away from the water as it was before I got there," he said.
"I didn't vandalize anything," Hearn said. "I didn't destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs."
He competed at the Summer Games for the United States in 1992, 1996 and 2000.
President Donald Trump has claimed that vandals have damaged the pool, which has not been verified. In the spring, his administration worked on restoring the reflecting pool, painting its interior navy blue for a total of $14 million.
An algae bloom soon after the work was finished caused new trouble for the administration.
But photos of the pool showed that the blue liner had started to peel away, leaving chunks floating on the surface, while algae growth turned the water green.
The National Park Service has claimed that vandals cut a large gash in the liner, likely with a box cutter.