An investigation by USA Today says that there is more to the Ryan Lochte/US swim team robbery story than the Rio police have said. Reportedly, a uniformed security guard did point a gun and demand money. In his mind, he was telling the swimmers to pay for vandalism they committed. In Lochte’s mind, the swimmers were being robbed. That communication confusing came from neither side understanding each other’s language.
Read the USA Today story after the jump.
From USA TODAY Sports investigation raises questions about Rio cops, Lochte incident:
Seven days after an incident that will in part define the Rio Olympics, details are becoming clearer about what happened during a gas station encounter between four U.S. swimmers and security guards, and not everyone has concludedRyan Lochte and his teammates are entirely in the wrong or that the account offered by Rio authorities is entirely accurate.
Lochte has admitted he exaggerated his initial description of how the four men were stopped in their taxi and robbed by men who flashed badges, as well as his sensational allegation of a gun being held to his forehead.
But a narrative of the night’s events – constructed by USA TODAY Sports from witness statements, official investigations, surveillance videos and media reports – supports Lochte’s later account in which he said he thought the swimmers were being robbed when they were approached at a gas station by armed men who flashed badges, pointed guns at them and demanded money.
