But his apology has been accepted by Olympic officials, and the mayor of Rio.
Advertisement
Ryan Lochte isn’t done explaining. Bentz said a security guard flashed a badge at him and drew his handgun. Then the second guard drew his weapon and both guards pointed their guns at us and yelled at us to sit on a nearby sidewalk. No guns were drawn during this exchange, but we did see a gun tucked into one of the guard’s waistband.
Bentz said he is confident that more security footage will be released showing the accuracy of his account. Bentz, who arrived back in the U.S. early Friday, emphasised that he was considered a witness, not a suspect, by Brazilian police and never made a false statement about the incident at any time.
Early Sunday morning I was with US swimming teammates celebrating at the French House.
“We just wanted to get out of there”, Lochte said, adding the swimmers were frightened.
On Friday Lochte apologized via Instagram “for not being more careful and candid in how I described the events”.
Swimmer Ryan Lochte claimed on Sunday that he and three teammates were robbed in a taxi early that morning while heading to the Olympic Village in Rio de Janeiro.
A Brazilian judge ordered a search and seizure warrant for Lochte and Feigen as well as the confiscation of their passports.
Police said the robbery story was fabricated and that the four swimmers involved vandalised a petrol station toilet early on Sunday after a night of partying.
Bentz says that the guards refused to let them leave, demanding payment for the damaged sign.
Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz were moved to business class and covered themselves to avoid the media during an overnight flight, after they were jeered leaving the Rio airport. Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentze were originally not allowed to leave the country, as they were taken off a plane to America to be questioned, but they left Brazil yesterda.
To the ongoing story involving Ryan Lochte, and three of his U-S swimming teammates. Instead of being robbed, the men actually got into a fight at a gas station, and did some meaningful damage to it, which led to them making up the robbery story to try to save face.
Conger, 21, says his statements to the authorities have been “truthful” and the entire time the investigation was going on, he was only being considered as a witness and not as a suspect.
Bentz told investigators that he saw Lochte giving an account of the night’s events to US media – Lochte spoke with NBC on Sunday afternoon.
Feigen is still resolving his charges before returning to the U.S.
The fourth swimmer, Jimmy Feigen, was ordered to pay nearly $11,000 to charity in order to have his passport returned, according to Alan Gomez and Nancy Armour of USA Today. Bentz’s statement appears to contradict that narrative.
Advertisement
“Ryan’s focused on making sure that his whole team gets back here and that making sure that people understand that although he made a mistake, they were victims here and that shouldn’t be overlooked, ” he said.
