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Photographs by Carolyn Van Houten
The summer after the country celebrated its 200th birthday, David Hearn paddled a canoe nicknamed the Queen Mary around the Reflecting Pool as part of an event intended to draw attention to a sport that would later lead him to Olympic glory. Nearly half a century later, as the country approached its 250th birthday, Hearn was back. On June 19, the 67-year-old stopped by the pool at the tail end of a long bike ride to look at the floating flakes of sealant that had come untethered following a rushed renovation ordered by President Trump. Hearn says he snapped some photos and dipped his hand into the water. Then he was arrested. Officers put him in handcuffs and detained him for hours.
Federal prosecutors have accused Hearn of “forcefully and violently” ripping up the sealant, causing damage to federal property that should be punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Hearn’s lawyers argue that these are ridiculous and frivolous charges—and in a motion to dismiss the case said they could present photographic evidence proving he didn’t cause major damage. Hearn, who for many years sold waterproofing materials for boats and canoes, has suggested that he was trying to figure out why the pool’s lining was falling apart, not damage it.
If last year’s emblem of prosecutorial overreach was the Sandwich Guy, this year’s has become the Canoe Guy.
Abbie Endicott, who helped organize the canoe event 49 years ago, told me that the Reflecting Pool holds special meaning to her, Hearn, and the others who paddled the shallow water that day. “The idea that any of us would want to damage something that’s meant to be so beautiful—and is, when it’s clean,” said Endicott, whose husband, Bill, was a longtime head coach of the U.S. canoeing team. “It’s meant to reflect everything that’s around it.”
With so many headlines to choose from, it’s a little strange that the Reflecting Pool has become the political scandal of the summer. But it has a dash of everything that Trump’s critics loathe about this presidency: a vanity project driven by Trump’s desire to accomplish what his predecessors couldn’t; a no-bid contract for a straight-from-central-casting Trump donor; incompetence leading to a botched repair; refusals to acknowledge reality; and, finally, the scapegoating of perceived enemies. Along the way, algae bloomed, chemicals were dumped, and ducks turned up dead. The banks of the pool—at its best a scene of unparalleled American majesty—took on a sort of circus atmosphere as locals and tourists alike stopped by to see the disaster for themselves. Some took a small souvenir to commemorate the moment.
The day after Hearn’s arrest, law enforcement from around the country, who had just arrived to help with the July 4 celebrations, swarmed the area. Some were assigned foot patrols near the Reflecting Pool and in quick succession, court records show, arrested several other visitors for allegedly reaching into the pool and pulling up pieces of sealant. On July 20 around 12:30 p.m., 47-year-old Justin Carreno was detained by a police officer from Oklahoma City. A little after 2 p.m., officers from Texas, Oklahoma, and California took into custody 26-year-old Cameron Thiers. An hour and a half later, a correctional officer from Montana nabbed 49-year-old Sophie Dennison-Gibby. All were charged with destruction of property valued at less than $1,000, a misdemeanor punishable of up to 180 days in jail. All have pleaded not guilty, and their attorneys declined to comment. A judge has ordered each of them to stay away from the Reflecting Pool; court appearances are scheduled for August.
Hearn’s case is the most serious: He faces felony charges for damages that exceed $1,000. At a press conference on July 2 to announce Hearn’s indictment, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro called Reflecting Pool prosecutions a presidential priority, and said that Hearn could serve a sentence of a decade in prison for what she called “a violent effort to rip up the sealant from the bottom of the pool.” She stated that witnesses reported that he used both hands to pull up the liner, damaging about two square feet, but she declined to reveal any other evidence and urged reporters to attend the trial. (Court documents filed late Friday afternoon indicated that prosecutors had made dozens of items available to Hearn’s attorneys, including body-camera video, images, and a witness statement.)
To many of Hearn’s friends and supporters, the charges seem just as ridiculous as Trump’s fumbling of the renovation. But when I spoke with Hearn at length last week, he used the same word a few times: unsettling. He said the prosecution has cut into his ability to sleep at night. The man who once carried the Olympic torch for his country said he now worries about being a focal point in a divisive political moment. “It’s unsettling,” Heard told me, “to feel like I’m being targeted by my government.”
Hearn’s life has revolved around water. He grew up in the Washington area, and his family spent summers in Montana, where he developed his love for paddling. He and his siblings were members of canoeing clubs and went paddling with friends nearly every day after school. As a 16-year-old, he began keeping training logs of his sleep patterns and workouts, a practice he kept up for more than 25 years as he rose to become one of the most decorated white-water canoe athletes in U.S. history. In college, he installed a slalom gate—poles that hang from overhead and set the course—in his dorm room so he could practice being near them without touching them. His older sister was also a U.S. team member, and his younger brother raced. His wife, Jennifer, was also a competitive canoeist and assistant coach of the Olympic national team. Hearn competed in three Summer Olympics—1992, 1996, and 2000—and was a torchbearer in the 1996 Olympics, carrying the flame into Washington, D.C. He won eight world championships, competing in single and team events, and in 2005 was one of the inaugural inductees into the International Whitewater Hall of Fame.
After retiring from active competition in 2002, Hearn worked as a coach and continued to maintain his business selling boats and paddles. In 2005, he and his wife took over a company that distributed epoxy, waterproofing, and other materials used primarily for building and repairing watercraft. They sold the business last year, but some of that experience gave him an additional interest in what was happening at the Reflecting Pool. “I’ve always been curious about science in general, and how materials work,” he told me. “It’s the kind of thing that really makes me curious.”
Dozens of people gathered outside the Superior Court of the District of Columbia for Hearn’s first hearing on July 9. Some dressed as canoeists. One wore an inflatable pink frog costume with AMPHIFA painted on the tummy. Posters read The Deflecting Pool and Davey’s a champ, not a scamp! Several signs featured dead ducks. And the crowd chanted: Free Davey Hearn! He is a hero! Inside, the court staff reserved two overflow rooms. The courtroom itself was so packed that journalists were invited to sit in the jury box. I was in the seat normally saved for juror No. 1, giving me a direct view of Hearn as he sat at the defense table. The man arrested in spandex and helmet during his visit to the Reflecting Pool was now in coat and tie, with an Olympic pin affixed to his navy jacket. He stood as the judge entered the room.
“This is the United States v. David Hearn.”
It was all over within eight minutes. Hearn pleaded not guilty. His attorneys asked for a speedy trial. The federal prosecutor warned, “There’s going to be a lot of discovery in this case.” Hearn was released without restrictions. But then government prosecutors approached Hearn and his legal team with a warrant for his cellphone. Their affidavit, a portion of which is quoted in subsequent court filings, suggested that they were looking for photos or proof that he “engaged in research” about how to cause damage to the Reflecting Pool.
Hearn’s attorneys argue that the photos on his phone will prove that he did not damage the pool. A photo that Hearn says he took just before placing his hand in the water—one that he later provided to The Washington Post and the BBC—shows the same damage to the sealant as the photo that National Park Service workers took after they arrested him. (In the affidavit, which has remained sealed, prosecutors used a different “before” photo that Hearn’s lawyers say in court filings has no date and could have been taken days or weeks beforehand.) The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment. Hearn’s attorneys on Friday filed a lengthy motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that the government has drained and altered the Reflecting Pool, essentially tampering with the evidence without allowing the defense to examine it.
When Hearn emerged from the courthouse without his phone, his supporters chanted and cheered. He looked out to cyclists who had ridden with him, canoeists who had paddled with him, people who had been rescued by him, and musicians who had jammed with him in impromptu sessions. (Hearn plays harmonica; his wife, ukulele.) One of Hearn’s lawyers—Norm Eisen, who was head of White House ethics and ambassador to the Czech Republic under President Obama—told the crowd that evidence will show that Hearn is innocent. Eisen then declared: “It is not a crime to touch water in the Reflecting Pool.”
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I counted 15 professional video cameras recording the event and talked with numerous outraged Hearn fans. “Of course he’s interested in a $14 million botched job. What went wrong? Feel the texture of it. Was it cured? Was it brittle?” Paul Flack, dressed in a kayaker’s helmet and a Team USA shirt, told me. Gary Roush, a retiree who knows Hearn from concerts they attend, added: “This is so clearly a case of the government seeking scapegoats. They’re trying to blame their failure on ordinary, innocent Americans.”
Trump has claimed that the damage was caused by vandals who cut a gash into the pool that he has described of varying lengths, from 250 feet to 300 yards. Eight days after Hearn’s court appearance, the president seemed to refer to him in a social-media post: “The Scum in Court will hopefully be prosecuted to the MAX.” But when the pool was fully drained last week, no such gashes were visible on the surface. A detailed visual analysis by The Washington Post last week found seven locations where the lining had separated at seams that were created when material was applied at different times—a pattern that experts said strongly suggested errors in the application process. I was down at the Reflecting Pool the day before Hearn was arrested, and large chunks of sealant were clearly already coming loose and floating in the water.
Adam Van Grack—a former chair of the U.S. Olympic governing body for canoe and kayak sports who has known Hearn for decades and is now a city-council member in Rockville, Maryland—told me that “the U.S. government could not have picked a worse person to be the headliner felony defendant in this trial.” Hearn and his wife are active volunteers who organize cleanups of the Potomac River and help maintain a historic lockhouse along a Washington-area canal. And the alleged offense? “Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but I put my hand in the Reflecting Pool,” Van Grack admitted to me. “It’s been the people’s pool, as opposed to this idea that if you touch the water or touch the bottom of the pool, you’ve committed a felony.”
What people can do at the pool—and whether government prosecutors can deliver proof that Hearn caused damage—will be determined in court over the coming months, including a status hearing scheduled for this morning. Meanwhile, work continues at the drained and dry Reflecting Pool, which is now surrounded by fences.
