Case dismissed for Olympic canoeist David Hearn over Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool damage Federal judge dismisses with prejudice the case against three-time Olympic canoeist David Hearn, who was accused by the Trump administration of intentionally damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. A federal judge has dismissed with prejudice the case against three-time Olympic canoeist David Hearn, who had faced up to 10 years in prison over allegations from the Trump administration that he intentionally damaged the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The Reflecting Pool remains fenced off to the public after, according to federal prosecutors, a US$14 million renovation project was botched. The pool continues to be coated with algae despite expensive, months-long repairs. Hearn, 67, has become a lightning rod for the continuing troubles of the landmark, which lies at the center of President Donald Trump's effort to remake the nation's capital in his image.Federal Judge Dismisses Case Against Olympic Canoeist David HearnTo 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 caught in the white glare of the president's ire. Nearly five decades before facing the charges, Hearn did something unthinkable today. At 18, he dropped an oblong yellow canoe into the shallow water and, with friends in their boats, paddled down the pool's length.The sanctioned stunt in the summer of 1977 was a sendoff for Hearn and others before they flew to Austria for their first Canoe Slalom World Championship. That marked the start of a long and complicated relationship with the 2,000-foot-long landmark. Hearn got hooked on canoeing as a teen 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 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.Hearn's Legacy as a Champion Canoeist and Mentor in the DC Region"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 took 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 said was ignoring a U.S. Park Police officer who ordered him 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. " 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 into Washington, DC. The 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 on his way back. He had heard about the problems with the pool's peeling synthetic liner and decided to make a pit stop, indulging his curiosity about the material because he has worked with synthetics at his business building canoes.Hearn's Arrest Sparks Debate Over Reflecting Pool Maintenance and Public Access"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 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 ride. Along the way, the three-time Olympic canoeist has joined a list of local Trump foils who've been catapulted into celebrity.That list includes 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.Canoeist Becomes Symbol in Broader Protests Against Trump-Era Renovations"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.