The situation “could and should have been avoided”, he said, adding that he had “learned some valuable lessons”. But he said he and three fellow swimmers faced a “traumatic” situation that involved a language barrier and a stranger pointing a gun at them. He explained that the swimmers had been detained by a security guard after drunkenly vandalizing a bathroom at a gas station.
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The report from the police offers a dramatically different interpretation than the one Lochte described on Sunday.
The alleged robbery incident during the Rio Olympics is far from Lochte’s first run-in with the law. Swimming’s biggest meet next year is the world championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Lochte, Bentz and Conger are already back in the United States.
Two of the other swimmers, Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger, were on their way Friday after being held in Brazil to testify.
Rio 2016 organizers said moments after Lochte’s statement that it was welcome and that they were prepared to move on.
For that, Bentz says, he handed the men a $20 and his teammate, Jimmy Feigen, gave them 100 Reals – about $33, according to USA Today. The saga was an enormous embarrassment for the U.S. Olympic team, which has dominated in the medal count.
“If this was a Brazilian or it wasn’t the Olympics, no one would have anxious about it”, said Janete Carvalho, 54, an English teacher, said on the streets of downtown Rio.
Lochte, one of the most successful Olympians of all time, issued a public apology on Friday to his fans and Olympic hosts, saying he should have been more candid in his account of the incident but was traumatized by having a gun pointed at him.
Developments came rapidly after police asserted that the swimmers had not been robbed. A gas station worker arrives, and other workers inspect the damage. Bentz and Conger talked with authorities on Thursday and were whisked through airport security and got on a plane that night.
The charity, the Reaction Institute, which brings sports to low-income communities and helped train Brazilian gold medallist judoka Rafaela Silva, said the money had been paid and would be used to fully enclose a judo arena near the City of God slum. If prosecutors win their appeal, Feigen would only have to pay if he ever wanted to return to Brazil.
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The decision was made, police said, in a court appearance to answer accusations that the swimmers had made false claims they were robbed. Veloso said the guards did not use excessive force and would have been justified in drawing their weapons because the athletes “were conducting themselves in a violent way”.
