Police Say Security Guard, Not Robber, Pointed Gun at Ryan Lochte
Police Say Security Guard, Not Robber, Pointed Gun at Ryan Lochte
“This incident has caused so much damage to Rio’s brand abroad that I think Brazilians deserve a clear, consistent account of what happened,” says AS/COA’s Brian Winter.
RIO DE JANEIRO — The American swimmers who claimed that they were assaulted at gunpoint over the weekend by assailants posing as police officers fabricated their account of the episode, Brazilian law enforcement officials said Thursday, illuminating many aspects of an incident that has spiraled into a thorny legal case testing the relations between Brazil and the United States.
The police said that they believed that the American swimmer Ryan Lochte had “stained” Rio by lying about what happened, but they acknowledged that a security guard had brandished a gun after one or more of the swimmers vandalized a gas station bathroom….
…“This incident has caused so much damage to Rio’s brand abroad that I think Brazilians deserve a clear, consistent account of what happened,” Brian Winter, vice president for policy at Americas Society and Council of the Americas, said.
The entire episode, Winter said, “has tapped into one of Brazilians’ biggest pet peeves — gringos who treat their country like a third-rate spring break destination where you can lie to the cops and get away with it.”…
