A man who drove a black SUV onto the National Mall last year, frightening pedestrians and damaging the grass as a barbecue battle raged nearby, was sentenced Friday to a year and a half in jail.
The driver, Curtis Lear, was also ordered to repay more than $9,000 to cover damage to the lawn from the nighttime romp, which was captured by surveillance cameras and bystanders’ videos on social media.
According to court records, the 30-year-old said he was “in the midst of a mental health episode” on the night of June 21 as he drove a Jeep down D.C. sidewalks, ran a red light, steered onto the Mall near Seventh Street SW and “drove erratically in circles at a high rate of speed in close proximity to pedestrians.”
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office said hundreds of visitors had gathered nearby for the 33rd annual Giant Barbecue Battle, and that Lear’s “joyride” put them at risk. A married couple reported feeling threatened when the Jeep started driving toward them, prosecutors said.
In between driving circles on the grass and fleeing in a cloud of dust, Lear took time to exit the vehicle and yell at pedestrians while flexing his arms, prosecutors noted. He was found and arrested in the same Jeep around 3 a.m.
Today, Curtis Lear was sentenced to 18 months in prison for recklessly driving his SUV across the National Mall on June 21, 2025. Video shows Lear behind the wheel of a Jeep tearing up the grass and accelerating uncontrollably. Hundreds of people were around the mall at the time… pic.twitter.com/WPkkdnO7gq
— U.S. Attorney DC (@USAO_DC) February 20, 2026
Lear pleaded guilty last year to destruction of federal property and assault with a dangerous weapon. He has been detained since last summer, records show.
Rather than being court-martialed, Lear agreed to be discharged from the Army under conditions other than honorable after he was charged in 2015 with abusive sexual contact and sexual assault, according to records in his case.
Lear’s public defender, Tezira Abe, did not respond to a request for comment Friday. In a court filing, Abe said Lear and his sisters had been scarred since childhood by abusive parents. The earlier assault allegations involved a woman with whom Lear “was having an ongoing, consensual sexual relationship,” she said.
The Army discharge was hard on Lear, Abe added, saying in the filing that “his already declining mental health rapidly deteriorated.”
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