CBS News is being sued for more than $20 million for allegedly falsely portraying a 15-year-old boy as a suspect in the vandalism of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
The teen’s family claims the network destroyed his “sterling reputation” in a report it later retracted, accusing CBS Broadcasting and CBS Interactive of “defamation and invasion of privacy through false-light publicity after footage of the teenager being handcuffed aired alongside a report about vandalism arrests,” The Wrap reported.
“He was not arrested for vandalizing it. He was not accused by law enforcement of vandalizing it,” the complaint said, going on to note that President Donald Trump “frequently discusses the Reflecting Pool renovation and publicly condemned those accused of vandalism in extraordinarily harsh terms.”
More from the outlet:
The dispute stems from a June 21 “CBS Evening News” broadcast in which anchor Jericka Duncan reported that five people had been arrested in connection with damage to the Reflecting Pool. As Duncan discussed the arrests, footage showed the teenager being detained by law enforcement officers.
According to the complaint, the teenager, identified by the initials JV, had been stopped the previous day while riding an electric dirt bike near the National Mall. He was released without charges, and his detention was unrelated to the vandalism investigation.
“This was not an error that CBS lacked the means to avoid. The Original Freedom News TV video from which CBS News obtained the video footage of JV expressly distinguished between a person detained for alleged vandalism and another person detained for using a dirt bike and showing JV standing next to his dirt bike,” the complaint said.
The complaint goes on to detail the “consequences” of the retracted report:
The consequences for JV have been profound. Before CBS’s publication, JV was an excellent student and high-school ice hockey player with a sterling reputation among his school, teammates, friends, family, and community. After CBS falsely associated him with a notorious federal vandalism case, numerous friends, teammates, and others contacted him about the report, and friends distanced themselves from him. JV has suffered embarrassment, humiliation, anxiety, loss of sleep, emotional distress, and continuing fear that CBS’s false accusation will follow him through high school and affect his college admissions, athletic opportunities, employment, and future career.
The permanence and seriousness of that harm are magnified by JV’s age. A 15-year-old child should not enter adulthood burdened by an internet record created by one of the country’s largest news organizations falsely portraying him as having been arrested for committing a federal crime against one of the nation’s most recognizable landmarks.
CBS News might have taken notice of The Washington Post’s undisclosed, out-of-court settlement with Nicholas Sandmann, which ended a $250 million defamation lawsuit filed on behalf of the Covington Catholic High School student from Kentucky who was falsely portrayed as the aggressor in an encounter with a native American activist in D.C., according to the complaint.
Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen on X:
Misidentifying a teenager on national TV should cost you. A $20 million lawsuit is at least a start.
— Ryan Dandin (@jrdandin) October 16, 2026
Put the wrong kid’s name on national news and that should cost you. CBS could’ve checked before running it.
— Rick (@50hidalgo47) October 16, 2026
Pinning a story on the wrong kid isn’t a small slip. A good name is one of the hardest things to win back, which is why the Church takes rash judgment and calumny so seriously. Praying for that teenager and his family, and for newsrooms to slow down and get it right.
— Niko Lemke (@nikothevirgin) October 16, 2026
Sue the deep state media out of business
— All American (@Barack_Ogona) October 16, 2026
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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