Lochte and US teammates Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen went to a gas station at about 6 a.m. Sunday, the official said, and broke a door to an outside bathroom when they couldn’t get in.
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According to Human Rights Watch, police in the state of Rio de Janeiro have killed more than 8,000 people in the past decade.
On Wednesday morning, a Brazilian judge ordered Lochte and Feigen to stay in Rio as police investigate an alleged robbery from early Sunday morning. Lochte already was back in the United States.
USOC spokesperson Patrick Sandusky said in a statement that Bentz, Conger and Feigen are planning to speak with authorities Thursday.
Conger and Gunnar had already cleared customs and boarding at Rio’s worldwide airport when they were detained. After a discussion, they did pay him an unknown amount of money and then left. Blanc’s order also extended to Lochte in order to seize his passport, but the star swimmer is already back home in the United States.
A lawyer for the two athletes said Thursday they will not be allowed to leave Brazil until they provide testimony to investigators, who are still searching answers about how the swimmers were robbed Sunday morning.
“All are represented by counsel and being appropriately supported by the USOC and the U.S. Consulate in Rio”, he added.
Bentz and Conger are now being represented by Brazilian attorney Sergio Riera, who told reporters in Portuguese, “They didn’t understand why they couldn’t board the plane”, and, “They were very scared”.
Feigen is in Rio and said he’s cooperating with officials. “But I’m safe. Everything’s fine”.
“I do not regret having apologised”, he said.
The Ryan Lochte robbery scandal has officially reached the Someone Is Bullshitting Phase, in which new alleged details that suggest Lochte’s story about being robbed at gunpoint in Rio may be totally bunk. Two top US Olympic swimmers faced new questioning by Brazilian police today after being removed from a US-bound plane over allegations that they may have fabricated a report of an armed mugging. “They arrived with their psychological and physical integrity unshaken”, the judge wrote.
UPDATE 11:20 a.m. Reuters is reporting that a Brazilian security source says the swimmers caused damage at the gas station, and paid for it in cash.
Lochte, who left Brazil before authorities could seize his passport and detain him as well, has since come in for a heap of Twitter mocking. “He said, “Get down, ‘ and I put my hands up, I was like “whatever”, Lochte told NBC”. I don’t know what all the controversy is. “They had fun, they made a mistake, life goes on”.
Associated Press reporters waiting outside Lochte’s home in North Carolina did not see the 12-time medalist. Sandusky declined to say whether Lochte and Feigen were still in the country. A security guard appeared and confronted them. “We refer you to Brazilian authorities for more information about this case”.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said the us government was aware of the situation.
“Why would anybody fabricate anything?”
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A police official with knowledge of the investigation told the AP that police could not find their taxi driver or witnesses from the robbery. “They did not tell us until later”. “I refused. I was like, ‘We didn’t do anything wrong, so – I’m not getting down on the ground'”. Ryan is the victim here. He altered this story in another interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer on Wednesday night, saying that none of the men in fact put a gun to his head.
