D.C. Prosecutors Drop 4 Reflecting Pool Cases After Contractor Work Caused Damage
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Aug 3
D.C. Prosecutors Drop 4 Reflecting Pool Cases After Contractor Work Caused Damage
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 3
Summary
Three misdemeanor cases were moved for dismissal in Washington after prosecutors last week also dropped the felony case tied to alleged vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Investigators found botched contractor work—not vandalism—was the primary cause of widespread damage to the pool’s new blue lining, reversing the basis for all four prosecutions.
Jeanine Pirro’s office abandoned the cases after pieces of the lining peeled up at the recently repaired pool, where President Trump and administration officials had blamed those arrested.
The Interior Department had awarded a no-bid repair contract this year to Atlantic Industrial Coatings, a small Virginia firm, at a site long troubled by leaks between its concrete slabs.
Who is accountable now that prosecutors say the Reflecting Pool damage came from bad restoration work, not the accused defendants?
How did a rushed, costly repair at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool end with vandalism charges collapsing and the contractor’s work blamed instead?