Gunnar Bentz, Olympic swimmer for Team USA, issued an apology for the Rio robbery incident that involved himself and fellow teammates Ryan Lochte, James Feigen, and Jack Conger.
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“I want to apologize for my behavior last weekend – for not being more careful and candid in how I described the events”, he said in a statement. Instead, they said Lochte had vandalized a local gas station early on Sunday and had an altercation with a security guard.
“I accept my responsibility for my role in this happening and have learned some valuable lessons”.
US Olympic swimmers Gunnar Bentz (C) and Jack Conger (R) leave a police station after being questioned. Witnesses said the swimmers were “aggressive and clearly drunk”. It begins with an apology to his teammates, the USOC, and Brazil.
“We just wanted to get out of there”, Lochte said, adding the swimmers were frightened.
The saga is an enormous embarrassment for the U.S. Olympic team, which has dominated in the medal count.
Lochte initially claimed that he and his teammates were robbed at gunpoint by theives posing as police officers. Cops in the city also said that one or more of the Olympians broke mirrors and damaged other things in a bathroom in the gas station.
“No robbery was committed against these athletes. They were not victims of the crimes they claimed”, Civil Police Chief Fernando Veloso told a news conference.
As Bentz and Conger flew home on Thursday night, their lawyer insisted they were witnesses only and had nothing to do with Lochte’s story. Lochte himself left the country earlier in the week. “They had fun, they made a mistake, life goes on”. ‘But the worst was that they lied about what happened’.
Feigen did not join Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger when they left Thursday night because he was ordered to donate nearly $11,000 to a local sports charity before charges against him would be dropped.
“Let me begin by emphasizing that I have been completely truthful in my statements throughout this unfortunate situation, including the information I provided to U.S. officials before leaving Brazil”, the statement said.
The case may not be settled even though police appear mostly finished with their probe.
A police source said Feigen’s passport would be released once he made the payment and presented a receipt to authorities.
Bentz said he, Lochte, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen left an event around 6am last Sunday and while on their way back in a taxi to the Olympic village they stopped to use the toilet. That claim started unraveling when police said that investigators could not find evidence to substantiate it.
Two security guards who demanded the swimmers get out of their taxi as they tried to leave then pulled their guns on them, he said.
Later, a man Bentz believed to be a customer at the store approached and offered to serve as a translator between the swimmers and the guards.
“To my knowledge, there was no damage done to the door or the inside of the restroom”, he said. 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. “Regarding the swimmers, I admit that my only feeling towards them is of pity, contempt, it’s a shame that their character failed, and now it’s their problem and of the American committee decide what to do”, said Eduardo Paes, Rio de Janeiro mayor.
“I gave them what I had in my wallet, which was a $20 bill, and Jimmy gave them 100 reals, which is about $50 in total”, Bentz said.
First, they learned on social media that four Americans had reportedly been mugged – a story Lochte told in hair-raising detail to the USA media – civil police Chief Fernando Veloso said at a press conference Thursday.
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Bentz also depicts Lochte as primarily responsible for escalating tension – something police have not done.
