H/T to Adam Van Grack @AdamVanGrack
The government is trying to portray United States Olympian Davey Hearn as someone who maliciously destroyed federal property. That portrayal is completely at odds with the life Davey has actually lived.
For years, Davey has helped *protect* and *care* for federal public property. He has volunteered to help preserve and maintain the Feeder Canal Slalom Course at the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park. Additionally, Davey has volunteered through the C&O Canal Quarters Program to help care for and protect the National Park Service’s Lockhouse 6.
Davey has also helped organize Potomac River cleanups through the Alice Ferguson Foundation. He has helped protect public spaces, preserve history, clean our waterways, and make these places better for paddlers, families, visitors, and the broader community.
These facts are more reasons why this prosecution of Davey Hearn is so bizarre. The Davey that so many of us know is not someone who disrespects federal property. He is someone who has protected it, preserved it, cleaned it, cared for it, and shared it with others.
This situation is exactly the kind of case where prosecutorial discretion, proportionality, and common sense should have mattered. When the government’s portrayal is this far removed from the life someone has actually lived, people who know the truth have a responsibility to speak up.
I stand with Davey.