With all the warnings and news reports about Brazil, to many it seemed totally plausible that Ryan Lochte and the other US Swimmers were robbed. Then the stories started to change and it turned into a big confusing mess that Brazilian officials are trying to clear up.
Lochte initially said that robbers posing as police, pulled over the taxi he and three other U.S. swimmers were riding in. He said the men had guns and ordered them to get down on the ground. Lochte said when he refused, one of the men pulled out his gun, cocked it, and put it on Ryan’s forehead. He says the robbers stole their money and his wallet.
Now it an interview with NBC News’ Matt Lauer, Lochte is telling a different story. The swimmers used a restroom at a gas station and when they got back to their taxi, the driver didn’t move. That’s when two men approached with guns and badges and told them to get out and get down, Lochte said. He now insists he did not have a gun pressed up against his forehead during the incident, but rather, one of the gunmen was pointing the gun in his general direction.
Lochte says he feels the differences are nothing more than a “traumatic mischaracterization.” Brazilian police say they were very drunk when giving their statements.
Lauer says he asked Lochte if he made the story up to cover up something else the swimmers were doing that night and Ryan adamantly denied that.
The police investigation however alludes that Lochte was covering something up. A Brazilian police source told ABC News that “one of the swimmers was seen on CCTV footage breaking down the door to the bathroom at the gas station and fighting with a security guard” on the night of the incident.
U.S. Olympic swimmers Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz who were with Lochte during the alleged robbery, were pulled off their U.S.-bound flight by Brazilian authorities Wednesday, and were interviewed by police. A judge ordered Lochte’s passport be seized but he is already back in the United States. The passport of James Feigen, another U.S. swimmer, has also been requested. As of Wednesday, he was still in Brazil and he reportedly is cooperating with police.
Brazilian police are keeping the door open of prosecuting all four men for providing false testimony. The charge if convicted is up to three years in Brazilian jail.
