Police, after reviewing surveillance video and witness testimony, concluded that no hold-up had occurred, but said the swimmers had vandalized a restroom at the gas station, and had then been confronted by security guards, who took out their weapons and told the Americans to pay for the damage before leaving.
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Lochte apologized and said Brazil “doesn’t deserve that”.
“From (the Brazilians”) respect, I can see that would be turned to, “No, we were just telling him don’t leave and pay us because we think you all did some damage.’ It could be interpreted both ways, and it’s not fair for people to jump to conclusions that it was one way or another”.
The three other swimmers in the vehicle tried to leave as quickly as possible because they feared Lochte would cause more damage, G1 said, quoting from the revised testimony.
At that point, Lauer said, “You’re striking a deal”.
Testimony released Friday by Rio authorities said that US swimmer Jack Conger identified Lochte as the one who committed vandalism. “There was a gun pointed in our direction”. We were all frightened and we wanted to get out of there as quick as possible.
Major consequences. The fallout over the Ryan Lochte Rio robbery case could end up costing the 12-time Olympic champion more than his reputation – the swimmer could reportedly lose up to $10 million in lucrative endorsements.
“I want to apologize for my behavior last weekend – for not being more careful and candid in how I described the events of that early morning and for my role in taking the focus away from the many athletes fulfilling their dreams of participating in the Olympics”, Ryan said in a statement released on Instagram on Friday (August 19).
Lochte’s story of the night’s events had changed at least twice.
Brazilian police claim Lochte and fellow swimmers James Feigen, Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger had not been held up at gunpoint, but instead had vandalized a gas station bathroom while intoxicated, and paid the damages after being questioned by armed guards.
Lochte stands behind his assertion that he and his teammates were held at gunpoint and robbed Sunday.
Lochte opened up to NBC’s Matt Lauer in his first sit-down TV interview since authorities accused him of fabricating his robbery story.
“There has already been too much said and too many valuable resources dedicated to what happened last weekend, so I hope we spend our time celebrating the great stories and performance of these Games and look ahead to celebrating future successes”, he wrote. I over-exaggerated that part, and the gun was drawn but not at my forehead.
As recently as Friday, Lochte’s US -based attorney, Jeff Ostrow, was telling reporters Lochte stood by his characterization of the incident as a robbery at gunpoint. Their detailed accounts of the incident confirmed much of what was on the surveillance video released by the police, although both Bentz and Conger claimed Lochte tore off a metal advertising sign, and not a bathroom door, as the police said.
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Bentz confirms that the entire incident occurred at a gas station, where the swimmers chose to urinate against the back of the building when the bathroom was not available. “It was still hours after the incident happened”. Their passports were returned Thursday, and they flew out of Rio de Janeiro that night.
