Posted on 08/18/2016 7:49:20 PM PDT by drewh
US swimmers Ryan Lochte and James Feigen were indicted by Rio de Janeiro authorities on charges of making a false police report, ABC News reported Thursday.
Brazilian police said earlier Thursday that the famous swimmer and his U.S. teammates were not robbed after a night of partying, and that the intoxicated athletes instead vandalized a gas station bathroom and were questioned by armed guards before they paid for the damage and left.
The robbery that was or wasn’t has become the biggest spectacle outside of the Olympic venues in Rio, and given American Olympians a black eye in Brazil after an otherwise remarkable run at the Summer Games. The ordeal was also a blow to Brazilians, who for months endured scrutiny about whether a city that has long had problems with violence would be able to keep athletes and tourists safe.
“No robbery was committed against these athletes. They were not victims of the crimes they claimed,” Civil Police Chief Fernando Veloso said during an afternoon news conference.
The swimmers could potentially face punishment — probation, suspension, a fine or expulsion — under USA Swimming’s code of conduct, which prohibits dishonesty or fraud. It was not immediately clear if the organization planned to act.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalpost.com ...
It could be very possible the US swimmers were being shaken down at the gas station by the security guard. The bathroom pic from the gas station doesn't look like it was damaged as bad as the Brazilian authorities are claiming.
If Brazil, or really South America in general, didn't have such a bad reputation for such things, I would try to be neutral until all the facts shake out. But since they have such a bad reputation for things like this happening to tourists, I'll trust the US swimmers until positively proven otherwise.
CGato
Agree.
Exactly, Brazil's bad reputation for these kind of incidents need to be taken in to consideration.
CGato
The Brazilians may be so used to swimming in befouled waters, they didn’t think the bright green color was any cause for concern. I also read that some athletes were offered sleeping quarters where there were visible drops of BLOOD on the sheets and mattress. (!!!!!!!) I would have gone nuts, then just slept on my knapsack. Here I thought the biggest problems would be bedbugs and Zika mosquitoes.
Sorry, I don’t care. We were guests and these young men were representing us. I know damn well how long and hard Olympians train, and I am ALL FOR them partying and having fun after their events are done. What a wonderful feeling, and all the athletes from the whole world should enjoy that amazing break, the international atmosphere, being young and fit and having fun.
BUT LYING TO THEIR POLICE AND THE WORLD in a way that makes Brazil look bad, when they have pulled off a pretty good Games here? Talk about a spoiled, ugly American (a few of them). Smash up a mirror, pee on the walls? Damn straight you’d better pay for it. That was bad enough, but not the end of the world. The lies, mean, selfish lies. Lies just to hide the fact they were with girls, whatever. He deserves whatever they throw at him. I’m disgusted. Yeah, the USA will be mad, Lochte. At your sorry ass for not being a decent human being.
The rush to judgment by Americans against these Americans based on the word of Brazilians is really pissing me off.
People were being robbed everywhere.How dare they touch anyone from our country.Let the State Department handle it over a broken things.Just shaken my head here.
“see what happens when you have a take it up the ### faggot for president?”
That makes no sense .
.
If they lied, (and right now I’m thinking they did) I don’t blame the Brazilian for throwing the book at them. The Brazilian already have an unsavory reputation, they don’t need drunk foreign athletes piling more on with lies.
Sounds like some on here are taking the side of a crooked government - much like people here in the U.S. do. Since when are victims not to be believed?
Lochte is not a “kid”, he is 32 years old, a STUPID 32 YEAR Old dumbass who just lost very lucrative sponsorships for being... a dumbass.
Whoa! A little perspective here instead of the usual “rush to judgement”. Four BOYS worked really really hard, went to the olympic games and won some medals. Then they went out and drank ADULT beverages allllll night long. On the way home at 7am they stopped at a gas station and trashed the bathroom. Two different security cameras backed up what happened. On the next day Little boy Lochte talked to Mommy and said “Mommy, a bad man robbed us in Rio and he had a gun too”
Mommy then told the story to the local radio station who broadcast the incident and word went allll the way to Brazil when the whole STORY started spinning out of control.
I don’t blame Brazil one bit, they have been under fire by the press. The same press we condemn on a daily basis for its inaccurate coverage.
Little BOYS should learn to represent their Country a little more responsibly and not tell stories to Mommy.
yeah, it does. We have a wuss for a president. Or our people wouldn’t be held all over the world.
Sorry if it makes no sense to you.
It will to MANY MANY others.
Did you bother to look at the pic? Do you see any evidence of a ‘destroyed’ bathroom or broken anything?
According to the police person, if the store owner settled with the boys, there was nothing else for the police to do and nothing the boys were subject to arrest for.
If one boy says, there were three fake police and one boy says there was one armed guy, there is no discrepancy in that, since we can clearly see at least three ‘fake police’ and the police chief admitted that one did pull his gun and point it, to ‘keep them there’. I’ve seen a news article where Loche claimed $400 was taken with his wallet; the line being pushed by the police is $20 plus the equivalent of 50 in Brazilian money. And we can’t get the straight story from the boys because they’re being detained.
I don’t trust Brazil any further than they can be tossed. In fact, this is beginning to look like a Tahmooressi.
Have you seen the video ?
Two things stick out in my mind....
The video tape at the gas station shows at least one of the swimmers exiting the yellow cab with his hands up.
Also, the security video at the gas station that was released by the Brazilian “authorities” has three (3) minutes of missing footage.
Where is that missing footage, and what did it show?
Spot on. This guy is not a naive "kid", he's been around the party pike for a couple of years with his mistr...oops, his squeeze, a Playboy magazine Playmate who was last year's Miss July.
Leni
Ryan has changed his own story several times. At first, I fully believed him too. Why would someone make this up? I thought. Two of his own swimmates said the story was made up to cover some incident of property damage one of the swimmer’s caused at a gas station.
What I wonder is who thought of cooking up this weak, over the top, see-through lie? Such a story of a gun being cocked and held to his head by a robber, would force the police to investigate it. Hillary, could have thought of a better lie than this w/o breaking a sweat!
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