Olympic canoeist at center of Reflecting Pool scandal becomes a Trump foil

By Aleena Fayaz, CNN

(CNN) — Nearly five decades before David Hearn faced up to 10 years in prison over allegations from the Trump administration that he intentionally damaged the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, he did something that would be considered unthinkable today.

The then-18-year-old dropped an oblong yellow canoe into the shallow water and, with a handful of friends in their boats, paddled down the pool’s length.

The sanctioned stunt in the summer of 1977 was part of a sendoff for Hearn and a few of the others before they flew to Austria to compete in their first Canoe Slalom World Championship. For Hearn, it also marked the start of a long and complicated relationship with the 2,000-foot-long landmark that lies at the center of President Donald Trump’s effort to remake the nation’s capital in his image.

Hearn, 67, has become a lightning rod for the continuing troubles of the Reflecting Pool, which remains fenced off to the public after, according to federal prosecutors, a $14 million renovation project was “botched.” To some, including Trump, Hearn is a vandal who sought to destroy one of the president’s prized beautification projects out of malice. To Trump’s critics, the soft-spoken native Marylander is a scapegoat who was caught in the white glare of the president’s ire before a federal judge recently dismissed the case brought against him with prejudice.

Along the way, the three-time Olympic canoeist has joined a list of local Trump foils who’ve been catapulted into celebrity, including a DC man who became a symbol of the resistance to Trump’s takeover of Washington, DC last year when he threw a Subway sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection officer, and a woman who went on to become a Loudoun County board member after she was fired from her government contractor job for flipping off Trump’s motorcade in 2017.

“Davey! Davey! Davey!” a group of people chanted as they recently circled around Hearn at DC’s East Potomac Park public golf course — the site of another controversial Trump renovation project that the canoeist has recently championed.

“I’ve been used to representing my country over many years in the canoe kayak arena and three Olympics, and yet this has been an experience that surpassed that in many ways,” Hearn said to the crowd, marveling over his newfound celebrity as they protested the administration’s plans to convert the park that offers stunning views of the Potomac into a championship-caliber golf course.

A family affair

Hearn got hooked on canoeing as a teen-aged boy paddling along the Potomac River with friends after school.

His father, Carter Hearn, was a whitewater paddler, as was his older sister Cathy Hearn. They lived near the constant flow of rushing water at the foot of Great Falls Park, a local mecca for whitewater paddlers. After competing in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics, Hearn became a hero in that community who coached others how to canoe.

“There was not a whitewater canoer or kayaker in the DC region or nationally or internationally that didn’t know or revere Davey Hearn,” said Adam Van Grack, one of Hearn’s students.

Hearn’s entire life was canoeing, even taking off from college every other Spring to train canoe slalom ahead of the biennial World Championships. His expansive career would take him to dozens of countries, where he collected gold, silver and bronze medals.

Hearn also entered the public eye in other ways. In 1996, just before his second Olympics appearance, he was arrested for paddling his canoe in the roaring waters of the Potomac, for what authorities say was ignoring a U.S. Park Police officer who ordered him to get out of the dangerous water, according to a Washington Post article published at the time. Hearn faced the possibility of an up to $5,000 fine and six months in jail for bypassing the closure notice, but the charges were dismissed, according to The Washington Post.

Four months later, while Hearn and his sister, Cathy, trained near Little Falls Dam, a group of fishermen became stranded in the choppy currents of the Potomac. Hearn helped authorities rescue the fishermen who were in danger of drowning, ferrying them back to shore on his boat.

“They were kind of stranded out there,” Hearn told the Washington Post. “They could’ve stayed there indefinitely, but I’m not sure how they would’ve gotten back.”

Arrested by the Reflecting Pool

Reveling in the temperate weather of a breezy June afternoon earlier this year, Hearn left his house in Bethesda and embarked on a 52-mile bike ride that took him into Washington, DC. The lengthy route was part of his training for a new challenge, the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships for cyclists set in Japan.

As he cycled past the Kennedy Center and other parts of the National Mall area, Hearn later said, his mind wandered to the Reflecting Pool where he often stopped by on his way back. He had heard about the problems with the pool’s peeling synthetic liner and decided to make a pit stop there, indulging his curiosity about the material because he has worked with synthetics at his business building canoes.

“I was curious about why it’s peeling,” he said in an interview the day after his arrest.

Hearn slipped off his biking glove and dipped his bare hand into the water that had become green with algae, brushing past a flap of the blue sealant, he said. Before he could inspect further, a National Park Service official posted there ordered Hearn to stop touching the water. He waited a beat, then returned to his bike where the official told him a Park Police officer wanted to talk to him. Hearn said in an interview that he blundered into the situation and was the one to suggest they walk over to the police officer together. Within seconds, his hands were placed behind his back and he was in handcuffs, Hearn said.

Still wearing his grey and neon green cycling jersey, Hearn sat in a roughly six-by-eight-foot cell for almost five hours, what he described at the time as a respite after a pleasant bike ride. But political storm clouds were already gathering around him.

Trump had by then seized on the idea that the Reflecting Pool’s problems were due to vandalism and not poor workmanship. In a series of social media posts, the president warned anyone caught tampering with the memorial could face serious criminal charges that could result in lengthy prison sentences.

Hearn sat idly in his cell unaware of what lay in store for him.

“He was worried about it. He was stressed by it, and he told me through the whole thing that he lost a lot of sleep over it,” said Bill Endicott, Hearn’s coach and neighbor. “We didn’t joke about it at all. I mean, in retrospect, the whole thing is so farcical.”

The ‘everyman’ goes to court

Less than two weeks later, Hearn was indicted by a grand jury in Washington, DC, Superior Court, for allegedly damaging the Reflecting Pool.

In a press conference on July 2, US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro described Hearn as “violently” ripping up about two square feet of the massive pool and being belligerent and rude toward federal officers guarding it.

As Hearn pleaded not guilty, supporters gathered outside the courthouse, some of them holding signs.

“Free Davey Hearn! Free Davey Hearn! Free Davey Hearn!” a group chanted.

Pirro cited “tremendous evidence” for why she was choosing to charge Hearn with a felony. But in a court filing just weeks later, her office sharply contradicted the evidence of vandalism, saying that the rush to complete Trump’s renovation of the Reflecting Pool led to “hasty and botched work.”

Hearn’s case was tossed out following the court filing and by October, a federal judge dismissed charges against Hearn, with prejudice.

“In securing the Indictment against Mr. Hearn, the government shot first and asked questions later,” DC Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman wrote.

Trump doubled down on his claims that vandals ruined the Reflecting Pool and extended little grace to Pirro who he blasted for choking under the judge’s pressure. Meanwhile, Hearn’s notoriety continued.

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, who represents Hearn’s district in Congress, called Hearn “an everyman” who people could rally around.

Hearn, Raskin said, “took his lumps and decided to fight it every step of the way, and became a hero for his poise and equanimity.”

A new fight

On a rainy October morning a few miles away from the Reflecting Pool, flocks of people gathered in the greenways of the East Potomac Park golf course. A loud brass band ushered cyclists into the raucous scene at the edge of the peninsula where friends and neighbors exchanged greetings. David Hearn, officially clear of his problems with the Reflecting Pool, was among them, ready to embrace another problem.

The Trump administration is targeting the golf course for renovation, another beautification project that, like the Reflecting Pool, has become the subject of litigation.

The president’s plan to transform the site into a professional course, which could cost between $20 million and $49 million, would eliminate a cherished affordable place to play golf for many DC area residents.

Part of the renovation plan is to cut down as many as 730 trees, an effort that has already begun and that Trump administration officials say is mostly routine maintenance meant to eliminate potential hazards.

Preservationists see the tree cutting and the likely elimination of a popular bike path at the site as one more sign of the Trump administration’s attempt to force the president’s will on the nation’s capital.

“I’m appalled at the disrespect by the NPS for our generators of oxygen and sources of shade which help keep the city cooler,” Hearn said in a recent text message about the fact that, so far, at least 430 trees have been cut down so far.

Asked if he planned to continue as an activist, Hearn said: “I will continue to defend democracy as best I can. Stay tuned.”

At the rally, Hearn blended into the crowd of cyclists, only identifiable by his Team USA uniform and navy blazer.

Then, it was time for him to speak to the crowd.

“This is our house,” Hearn declared to the cheering crowd, where some held up their phones to capture the moment. “We will defend our house.”

After his speech, Hearn folded back into the crowd of people donning rain jackets and helmets. “Thank you,” said one woman leaning into Hearn as she squeezed his arm tightly before walking away.

A line of other people waited to thank him too and take pictures with the Olympian who now represented more to them.

Softly smiling, Hearn nodded along with their conversations, taking it all in.

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