Ryan Lochte’s tale of being robbed at gunpoint began to unravel quickly. After an investigation by Brazilian police, it was revealed that he made it up after an altercation at a gas station.
Lochte initially said he and three other US swimmers were pulled over and robbed by men posing as police. He then changed his story, saying they were at a gas station using the bathroom when robbers approached their taxi. Today it was revealed through surveillance video that that one of swimmers fought the gas station security guard. Lochte’s teammates Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz were pulled off a plane going back to the United States on Wednesday. They were questioned by police and revealed that the robbery story had been fabricated.
Here’s what happened according to a Brazilian police official:
He said that around 6 a.m. Sunday, Lochte, along with Conger, Bentz and Jimmy Feigen, stopped at a gas station in Barra da Tijuca, a suburb of Rio where many Olympic venues are located. One of the swimmers tried to open the door of an outside bathroom. It was locked.
A few of the swimmers then pushed on the door and broke it. A security guard appeared and confronted them, the official said. The guard was armed with a pistol, the official said, but he never took it out or pointed it at the swimmers.
According to the official, the gas station manager then arrived. Using a customer to translate, the manager asked the swimmers to pay for the broken door. After a discussion, they paid him an unknown amount of money and left.
Conger, Bentz and Feigen remain in Brazil as authorities have ordered the seizure of their passports. A Brazilian judge also ordered Lochte’s passport be seized, but he said he has already returned to the U.S.
It still doesn’t explain the fight caught on video and if the men will be charged for the false report, but a press conference is scheduled for 2 pm ET today.
source: ESPN
