In a statement released late Friday that included an apology, Gunnar Bentz said he never saw anyone break down a bathroom door, and that he, Jack Conger, Jimmy Feigen and Ryan Lochte relieved themselves on nearby bushes after a night out.
Lochte tore a sign down from the building, Bentz said, and then the four returned to their taxi. Bentz said they were ordered out of the cab by security guards and ultimately forced, with guns drawn, to sit on a nearby sidewalk. He says Lochte then got up and yelled at the guards.
As Jimmy and Jack were walking away from the vehicle, the first security guard held up a badge to me and drew his handgun. I yelled to them to come back toward us and they complied," Bentz 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.
"Again, I cannot speak to his actions, but Ryan stood up and began to yell at the guards. After Jack and I both tugged at him in an attempt to get him to sit back down, Ryan and the security guards had a heated verbal exchange, but no physical contact was made.
"A man that I believe to be a customer approached us and offered to help as he spoke both English and Portuguese. Understandably, we were frightened and confused during this time. Through the interpreter, one of the guards said that we needed to pay them in order to leave. 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. They lowered the guns and I used hand gestures to ask if it was okay to leave and they said yes. We walked about a block down the street and hailed another taxi to return to the Village.
Lincoln Bennett
Who the fuck cares?
Ryan Garcia
The version provided by the translator, 38-year-old Fernando Deluz, said a gun wasn't pointed at them during the encounter
Bentz also said there were additional video angles that support his account that may not have been released.
Lincoln Turner
"I also believe some scenes have been skipped over," he said. "Additionally, I would like to stress that our original taxi was not pulled over; the only occupants of the taxi were the four of us and the driver; and to my knowledge, there was no damage done to the door or the inside of the restroom."
Elijah Garcia
Do you even realize the implications?
Aaron Rodriguez
No idea why you still discussing this. They are going to be suspended. One of your athletes payed a fee as a donation of around 10k USD to a brazilian institution
An Australian team got robbed for $1000, that's your own people m8
Bentley Sullivan
More like Brazil is fucked
Austin Parker
wars have been started over much less than this. the brazilians are gonna get their asshole pried open until it looks like an olympic ring.
Gabriel Wilson
>truth comes out
More like trying to damage control
Ryan Diaz
How long would you last in Rio Mr Leaf?
Nolan Thompson
Going in January lad. I'm not a a retarded American who thinks he can do whatever the fuck he wants in a foreign city so I'm good
Lucas Howard
>try to bribe your way out of prosecution >h-he was coerced >ameridumbs
Jonathan Long
Lochte was retiring, anyway. We've known that since before these games. He's way past his prime and only swam one individual event in Rio (the 200m IM), and finished out of the medals. His lone medal at these games came in a relay. He was obviously done, even if he hadn't publicly ruled out Tokyo. Suspension means nothing for him.
They got shaken down for "damages" by corrupt security guards. In America, that would be a crime (extortion).
But of course the USOC will try to smooth things over, since they need to play nice if they want Los Angeles to win the bidding for 2024. It's no different than Obama air-dropping cash in Iran in exchange for prisoners.
>Bananas to you guys! How appropriate, coming from a banana republic.
Both sides have been in damage-control mode from the start, but it's not hard to see what really happened here. IMO, neither side comes out of it looking good. The swimmers look like stupid frat boys (and Lochte, at least, is old enough that he should have outgrown that shit), and the Brazilians look like petty thugs.
Tyler Nguyen
>going to Rio Favela Deshito instead of Miami, Ft Lauderdale or Orlando
Wew lad
Owen Williams
>person that has to live in brazil tells a different story SHOCKING
Matthew Long
whatever
Kevin Rogers
Miami is nice but you can't go 5 steps without a nigger running up to you asking you to buy his mixtape
Eli Flores
>pointing a gun at someone and demanding a bribe to let them go isn't robbery
>peeing in the bushes behind a gas station is just as bad as armed robbery
>police lying about them trashing a conveniece store and getting into fights is okay because one of them did something to some sign in the back or something
>holding their passports and demanding a "charitable donation" is okay because they said bad things about us
You have to feel bad for Brazilians, they are so used to bribes and corruption that this all makes complete sense in their minds.
I've been to corrupt places, this is how it always goes. Anyone who thinks the authorities were in the right is just flatly naive. Small infraction or perceived infraction, forced to pay a bribe, complain about bribe, have to pay bigger bribe.
Just sad.
Grayson Flores
Bullshit, you liars!
Xavier Collins
Yeah exactly, he doesn't want to end up dog food
Adrian Ortiz
I feel some of the misunderstanding comes from the fact that Americans don't know that in Brazil you can convert a light sentence like the one they were going to get (probably community service) into a donation to a charity institution/NGO, so they probably made a deal during the hearing. It's called "transação penal" and I believe it's similar to a plea bargain in the american system. It was all done according to brazilian law, so the claims of corruption and extortion are ludicrous. The best you can do is say "I don't like that your laws are different from mine"
Jason Scott
I'm not claiming what the court did was extortion (although I think they were railroaded a bit, and am not convinced they caused all of the damage that was alleged). What I'm arguing was extortion (or would have been if it had happened in the U.S.) was what the security guard did. In the U.S., a private security guard cannot hold someone and refuse to let them leave (with or without a weapon). They are not police and don't have police powers.
But we can certainly say more than "I don't like that your laws are different." We can very well say that your laws are objectively bad because they tend to foster corruption and thuggery.
Gavin Martinez
Except that none of them were convicted of a crime.
The one guy had to pay a "donation" to not be tried in court, or if you'd like, he paid to be able to avoid court and get away with his crimes.
Take a good hard look, amigo. That is the root of a corrupt tree.
Ayden Cox
>America talking about corruption You guys are the most corrupt motherfuckers in the world
Leo Evans
This. Who the fuck cares at this point.
Christian Perry
I'd rather buy a shitty souvenir mixtape than have a nigger running up to me with a gun and stealing my wallet.
Thomas Myers
good goy. here, have a matzo.
Jeremiah Stewart
>Except that none of them were convicted of a crime. That's how plea bargain work, you plead guilty to a charge before you're convicted.
Any citizen in brazil can detain another person they witnessed commiting a criminal act and hold them until the police arrive, there was nothing illegal in that part. Honestly I'm not up to date on all the details so I can't really comment on the specifics of this case.
Christian Lewis
Citizen's arrest powers in America exist, but they are generally restricted in the use force in detaining a person (they certainly cannot use deadly force, and brandishing a weapon would be considered that). They also CANNOT demand (or even accept) payment in return for letting a suspect go (that is clear extortion by our laws, even if it's not by yours).
At any rate, no one is arguing that it was against Brazil's laws. We well aware that this was completely kosher by your bullshit standards, but we are calling you out on your standards being bullshit. Yes, we are judging your laws by our standards. Yes, we think our standards are objectively better than yours. Deal with it.
Mind you, as I said above, I think Lochte and the others fucked up. I just don't think that justifies the way your country treated them.
Owen Cruz
And how is that worse than Rio?
Jack Allen
>it's an American damage control episode
You cunts are pathetic.
Andrew Johnson
The mixtape is free by the way
Sebastian Collins
wtf I hate USA and Brazil equally now
Jace Diaz
You don't hate USA. We are your greatest ally
Kayden Murphy
>They also CANNOT demand (or even accept) payment in return for letting a suspect go They can't here either, I guess the gas station owner/manager just wanted compensation for the damages. Mind you the average brazilian has no idea wtf they're doing when it comes to the law. After they paid they asked if they were free to leave and security consented (when they should probably have made them wait for the cops) According to the security guard press statement they only drew their guns after Lochte and one of his colleagues (statement doesn't identify wich) aggressively moved towards them once they realised they were holding the other two guys. Like I said I couldn't be arsed watching the whole footage so I'm only going by the press statements. I'm sure if it's found out anything illegal happened the US will fuck us good.
Daniel Hill
Wtf I reluctantly tolerate USA now
Isaac Taylor
I really really like the beaches of Rio (when clean) and the sexy beautiful Brazilian women, soccer and Aryton Senna
But I also hate corruption, extortion, muggers, crooked cops and crooked security guards.
Wut do?
Elijah Rivera
Stupid Brazilian citizens, your government is basically North Korean tier. They make their hostages, in this case innocent Olympic athletes, say what they want them to or lock them up for 50 years.
Zachary Collins
>relieved themselves on nearby bushes That's a crime here too
Blake Powell
>Ameripisses
Jackson Walker
The sentence for falsely communicating a crime is 1-6 months which can be converted to community work or donation goods to a charity/ socially relevant ngo, like other "crimes de menor potencial ofensivo" (I guess it would be analog to a misdemeanor)
Xavier Reyes
>Like I said I couldn't be arsed watching the whole footage so I'm only going by the press statements. Can you actually believe anything your press says? We sure can't believe ours. There's also a claim being made that the footage has been edited, with about three minutes cut out.
>I'm sure if it's found out anything illegal happened the US will fuck us good. Nah. The story will die quickly once it's no longer needed as a convenient excuse to NOT cover all of the other incidents of people being assaulted or robbed in Rio, the shit in the water, etc., and once the IOC finishes extracting its pound of flesh from Lochte for drawing further attention to their incompetence at choosing venues. I doubt the games will return to Latin America anytime soon, though.
Trust me: the U.S.A. isn't going to do anything that might jeopardize Los Angeles' bid for 2024.
Tyler Turner
Does Brazil have the death penalty, might set an example for future athletes desu
Jeremiah Martinez
kek, only in war times. Nobody can't be held for more than 30 years in prison besides peculiar cases.
Alexander Perez
Only during war time in cases of treason and desertion.
Cooper Carter
Go to Chile instead. Cleaner, hardly any crime or corruption, no groids, their beaches are on the superior ocean, the other tourists are classier, and the women are not all made of silicone.
Also, they currently have the better national soccer team. (Yeah, I went there.)
Also in America.
Yeah, but if the police knew the account was false and encouraged them to file it anyway, there's a case to be made for entrapment (or would be, here).
Evan Morris
Just wait for 2020 for that.
Japan very definitely still has the death penalty.
Levi Gutierrez
brazil is an uncivilized shithole but not that bad. What backwater hellhole still has the death penalty?
Owen Collins
We have it (federally, and in most states), but so do Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore: countries that no one could possibly consider backwater hellholes. When did you krauts get so pussified, anyway?
Hudson Reed
lel
Samuel Hill
>can't handle a bit of criminal bantz >gets butthurt and hangs them