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Federal prosecutors filed a motion Friday to dismiss felony destruction of property charges against former Olympian David Hearn, citing incomplete information provided by the Department of Interior during the initial investigation. The move came after discovering that officials failed to disclose records detailing serious defects in the Reflecting Pool’s coating installation, according to a court filing reviewed by Fox News Digital.
Hearn faced indictment on July 2 for allegedly tugging at a loose section of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool’s coating on June 19. U.S. Park Police claimed he continued the action after being instructed to stop by a National Park Service employee, with initial damage estimates exceeding $1,000.
Prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s office stated the Department of Interior initially supplied only “barebones” reports that obscured the true cause of the damage. Additional documentation later revealed that contractor Atlantic Industrial Coatings installed the coating improperly and rushed to complete the project before America 250 celebration events around Independence Day 2026.
The government determined that without the withheld evidence, prosecutors would not have pursued the grand jury indictment. The new documentation made it impossible to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Hearn caused the damage, leading prosecutors to request dismissal without prejudice, preserving the option to refile charges.
Hearn’s legal team, represented by attorneys Norm Eisen, Mary Dohrmann, and Steve Levin, demanded a formal apology from the administration. The attorneys characterized the prosecution as government overreach against what they described as a patriotic American who committed no wrongdoing.
This marks not the first time Hearn has successfully challenged federal charges. In 1996, he was arrested by U.S. Park Police for paddling a whitewater canoe into the Potomac River during a dangerous flood event that reached 60,000 cubic feet per second. A federal judge dismissed those charges, ruling that Maryland’s jurisdiction over the river meant federal Park Police had no authority to enforce the arrest.
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