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CBS News is facing a defamation lawsuit as a Maryland teenager seeks $20 million in damages, claiming he was falsely identified as a person arrested for vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool’s lining.
The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, identified the 15-year-old plaintiff simply as “JV.”
“He was not arrested for vandalizing it. He was not accused by law enforcement of vandalizing it. Yet CBS News broadcast and published a story to a national audience that placed JV’s image alongside the assertion that five people had been arrested for vandalizing and ‘sabotaging’ the Reflecting Pool, thereby falsely portraying JV as one of the perpetrators of a highly publicized federal crime,” the lawsuit stated.
“The accusation was particularly damaging because at all times material to the allegations, the Reflecting Pool renovation and subsequent alleged vandalism of the Reflecting Pool is or has been the subject of intense national attention and political controversy,” the complaint continued.
“President Donald Trump frequently discusses the Reflecting Pool renovation and publicly condemned those accused of vandalism in extraordinarily harsh terms, stating that they should be ‘prosecuted to the max,’” it added.
The lawsuit states that CBS “inserted” JV into the controversy and “exposed him to extreme embarrassment, humiliation, and the public condemnation” directed at the actual vandals.
The lawsuit claims JV’s presence near the Reflecting Pool “was entirely unrelated to the vandalism” and he was simply briefly detained for riding an e-bike in the area.
JV was released without charges and “his detention had nothing whatsoever to do with vandalism or sabotage of the Reflecting Pool.”
“CBS nevertheless used video footage of JV’s detention in its report about the Reflecting Pool vandalism. As CBS anchor Jericka Duncan told viewers that ‘five people have been arrested,’ the video depicted JV in handcuffs,” the lawsuit stated.
“In the version CBS distributed online and through social media, CBS showed JV turning toward the camera with his face fully visible as Duncan made the statement concerning the arrests and then identified one of the alleged perpetrators, David Hearn,” it continued.
“The visual and verbal presentation published by Defendants unmistakably conveyed the false message that JV was among the persons arrested for vandalizing the Reflecting Pool and further confused JV with Hearn, an adult who was subsequently indicted on a felony charge arising from the vandalism,” the complaint added.
JV’s legal team claimed CBS was aware that the 15-year-old was detained for the e-bike, and not vandalism, because the original video obtained by the network clearly distinguished between the two issues.
“The facts alleged herein demonstrate that CBS either knew its portrayal of JV was false or acted with reckless disregard for whether it was true,” the lawsuit alleged.
“CBS compounded the harm through the manner and breadth of its publication,” it continued. “Although the national television broadcast did not show JV’s face, CBS’s online and social-media version did. It showed his face immediately after depicting his distinctive sweatshirt and while reporting that arrests had been made. JV was readily recognized by friends and acquaintances.”
The lawsuit pointed out that video of the report accumulated at least 1.8 million views on social media alone. JV’s legal team said he has faced “profound” consequences, including embarrassment, humiliation, anxiety, loss of sleep, emotional distress, friends distancing themselves and a continued “fear that CBS’s false accusation will follow him through high school and affect his college admissions, athletic opportunities, employment, and future career.”
The lawsuit noted that CBS issued an on-air correction but said the “belated acknowledgment … cannot undo the publication or erase its consequences.”
CBS News declined comment on pending litigation.
A judge permanently dismissed the Reflecting Pool vandalism case against former Olympian David Hearn, who was accused of damaging the costly $14 million renovation project in June.