Recently, U.S. Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte, along with three other swimmers, claimed they had been robbed at gunpoint by police in Rio. The Rio police are now saying that Lochte lied, and that two of the others, Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger, admitted that their story was false. The police are recommending Lochte and the fourth, James Feigen, be indicted for falsely reporting a crime, but Lochte has already returned to the U.S. However, Feigen, Bentz, and Conger are still in Rio.
The supposed real story is that the group stopped at a gas station to use the restroom after a party. When they couldn’t get in, they vandalized a bathroom door, at least one apparently urinated on an outside wall, and they may have caused further damage apart from the door. One of the gas station employees, a security guard, may have pulled a gun on them, but Brazilian authorities say it was just to control the situation. The swimmers were reportedly “messed up” and Lochte seemed particularly agitated. They offered to pay around fifty dollars, bu the employees demanded more for damages. The swimmers ended up paying about four hundred.
Security footage shows the group leaving the bathroom and getting in their cab, but they are stopped by one of the employees. There is also footage of them sitting on a curb with their hands up, but there is no gun visible in the video.
Lochte and Feigen are still claiming they were robbed and Lochte’s people are claiming that it is the Brazilian police who are lying and that there are three minutes missing from the security footage that proves they are telling the truth. Brazilian authorities want an apology for the swimmer trying to cover up their behavior by making the city look bad.
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