A pool’s peeling liner, a man’s ordeal, and the haste that shaped both.

There is a particular kind of injustice that comes not from malice, but from haste—the kind that moves faster than the truth can keep up. For David Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist, that haste meant five hours in detention, a felony charge carrying a decade in prison, and a public accusation of vandalism that echoed from the highest office in the land.

Hearn’s ordeal began on June 19, during a bike ride past the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The pool had recently undergone a sixteen-million-dollar renovation ahead of America’s 250th birthday celebrations, a project rushed to meet a July 4 deadline . Noticing strips of the pool’s new liner peeling away and floating in the water—damage that had already drawn media attention—Hearn reached in and briefly touched a piece of the detached material. According to his account, he let go when a park worker told him to, but he was nonetheless arrested, detained, and later indicted on a felony count of property destruction .

Federal prosecutors, led by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, presented the case to a grand jury with what Hearn’s lawyers describe as “lightning-fast” speed, securing an indictment just two weeks after the arrest. Pirro publicly accused Hearn of “forcefully and violently” vandalizing the pool, a characterization that echoed President Trump’s insistence that vandals, not construction flaws, were to blame .

But the case against Hearn began to unravel almost as quickly as it had been assembled. Evidence from the Interior Department showed that the pool’s liner had been failing from the moment of installation, that the damage was the result of a contractor’s “botched” work, and that Hearn could not have caused the harm alleged . On July 31, Pirro moved to dismiss the charges, acknowledging that the government “would not have sought a grand jury indictment” had it possessed the necessary information .

That dismissal did not end the matter. Last week, a D.C. Superior Court judge permanently dismissed the case with prejudice, ruling that the prosecution had been shaped by political pressure and that Hearn could not be retried. The judge noted the “unique possibility” that prosecutors might attempt to revive the case absent a firm bar, given the president’s public demands for charges .

Now, Hearn’s attorneys have taken a further step. In a letter sent Tuesday to the inspectors general of the Justice and Interior departments, they are asking for independent investigations into what they describe as “gross incompetence, negligence, and misconduct” by government officials . The letter alleges that prosecutors possessed exculpatory evidence—including a damage assessment documenting the liner’s failures weeks before Hearn’s visit—but ignored it in their rush to indict . It also raises questions about Pirro’s public comments during the case and her decision to personally question one of Hearn’s expert witnesses without notice to defense counsel .

“The record reflects an indictment obtained through unusual haste and a prosecution shaped from the outset by political pressure and built on an inadequate investigation,” the attorneys wrote . Among those signing the letter is Michael Bromwich, a former Justice Department inspector general himself, adding a measure of institutional weight to the request .

The inspectors general’s offices have not indicated whether they will act on the request. A spokesperson for the Interior Department maintained that Hearn “admitted to officers that he was tampering with the Reflecting Pool,” while the Justice Department noted that its watchdog operates independently .

For Hearn, the dismissal of charges may have restored his legal standing, but the question of how and why the prosecution happened at all remains open. The answer, his lawyers suggest, lies in the records and memories of those who moved so quickly to judgment—and in whether anyone will be held accountable for the rush that nearly cost a man his freedom.

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Sources: CBS News, Associated Press, The Boston Globe, The Hill, MS NOW, Washington Examiner, Washington Times