As I said, it makes no difference here. The point is, when you are in a foreign country, even if the police are owned by the family of the guy who runs the store that had the sign ripped down, you are immediately behind the 8-ball.
Gaffer knows, as one of his posts shows, that you have to stay in front of that 8-ball at nearly all costs, because if you get sucked in any way into the corrupt legal processes of many countries around the world, your options immediately shrink dramatically, sometimes to nothing.
The swimmer is a dufus, that much is clear, but to make it even worse, he isn't an 18 year old sailor going ashore for liberty in Singapore on his first voyage away from family and friends. He is a full grown man who has been abroad before and should know all this, which makes it even stupider.
And I am not taking the side of the Brazilian police, people, or government. Just saying this guy should have known better than to put himself in that situation.
Do you recall the story about the SUV or van carrying Olympic personnel? I vaguely recall that one of the occupants was shot in the head. I never heard whether he recovered or died. Do you happen to know offhand?
I’ve been to a number of different countries and I couldn’t agree more.