Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger, who were both with Ryan Lochte and Jimmy Feigen when they were allegedly robbed at gunpoint on August 14 by suspects dressed as police officers, were removed from a plane so that authorities could continue their investigation, NBC News reported.
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Lochte, along with fellow swimmers Jack Conger, Gunnar Bentz and Jimmy Feigen, stopped at the gas station in Barra da Tijuca, a suburb of Rio where many Olympic venues are located.
An armed security guard at the station demanded that the swimmers pay for the damage, though he did use his gun to threaten them, the report says.
A US Olympic swimmer apparently fought with security guards at a Rio gas station in the hours before he reported being robbed by local police.
A manager asked the swimmers to pay for the broken door and they gave him an undisclosed amount of money, the official said.
A judge with a special tribunal for sporting events had noted “possible divergences” in swimmers’ accounts of the holdup and ordered the seizure of passports for Lochte and swimmer James Feigen, officials confirmed on Wednesday.
There was no gas station in the first version of the story, as Lochte and the other swimmers claimed that they were pulled out of a cab by criminals disguised as police officers, and then robbed at gunpoint. Lochte also said the assailant pointed a gun at him rather than putting it to his head.
As a reminder, Lochte, a gold-medal victor, said his wallet was stolen as he and three of his American teammates Bentz, Conger and James Feigen were returning to Rios Olympic Village in a taxi.
Then, this security camera video emerged purporting to show the team in high spirits as they returned to the Olympic village after the incident. Lochte had said in a TV interview that he was among a group of four US swimmers who were held up early Sunday by men with a police badge. “They pulled out their guns, they told the other swimmers to get down on the ground – they got down on the ground”. They have not been able to find the taxi driver who took the guys back to the Village.
Surveillance footage from Club France security cameras indicates that both athletes left the house at nearly 6 am – a full two hours after the time they had stated.
The swimmers were questioned by Brazilian authorities before being released.
Lochte arrived back in the United States, explaining that the swimmers didn’t initially tell the US Olympic Committee about the robbery out of fear of being punished, giving perhaps some explanation for the initial confusion. Brazilian police have detained some of Lochte’s teammates in an effort clear up some inconsistencies in their accounts of what happened that night. Steve Lochte said. “It’s just ridiculous”.
Brazilian police held a press conference in Portuguese on Thursday afternoon.
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The official said workers at the gas station went to see what the commotion was about.
