Gas station attendants surround the cab and, at 6:12 a.m., the swimmers get out, with one appearing to raise his hands.
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Veloso said the men left $20 and 100 Brazilian reals to pay for the damage to the bathroom, which included broken mirrors and damage to the door.
NBC News reported that the security guard had pulled a gun on the swimmers, but a police official told the AP that the guard never drew a gun.
Someone at the gas station called police, but by the time a police vehicle arrived at the scene the swimmers were gone. After a discussion, they paid an unknown amount of money and then left. The alleged incident put Olympic teams from across the globe on alert, with tightened curfews and fresh suggestions that competitors avoid areas of Rio where they could be targets.
It also wasn’t clear what charges the swimmers could face.
“Unfortunately, the swimmers told one lie after another”, a Brazilian police official who had reviewed the video images told The New York Times. “We’ve been able to determine that there was no armed assault”.
“We got pulled over, in the taxi, and these guys came out with a police badge, no lights, no nothing – just a police badge and they pulled us over”, Lochte told NBC.
The swimmers do not report the incident to police or to the USOC, and officers in Rio only get involved after seeing it reported on TV.
The men were expected to be questioned by authorities again Thursday.
He said: “Let’s give these kids a break”. “Sometimes you make decisions you later regret”.
Lochte said they took the swimmers’ money.
On Wednesday a Brazilian judge ordered the four athletes to surrender their passports and stay in Brazil as the investigation into the robbery continues; however, Lochte made it back to the USA before the ruling could be enforced.
Rio police said four US swimmers lied about being held up at gunpoint Sunday morning.
The official said that Conger and Bentz told police that the robbery story had been fabricated.
After Conger and Bentz were pulled off a plane by Brazilian police on August 17, the two reportedly told law enforcement that the robbery story was fake.
According to Lochte-who is now back in the United States-the four were robbed at gunpoint by police impersonators. One of the bandits reportedly put a gun to Lochte’s forehead, according to CNN. He later altered his account, saying the taxi stopped at a gas station so they could use the bathroom.
Brazilian officials have refuted Lochte’s claims that he was robbed at gunpoint, indicating that there is no evidence to support the allegations made by the American swimmers.
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International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams initially said the reports were “absolutely not true”, but he later apologized and said he was relying on initial information from the USOC that was wrong.
