So I'm a thinking About This Ryan Lochte Thing

[Chu Gai]

after the incident in Rio, he's lost his endorsers albeit picked up a couple, and been suspended by everybody for 10 months. Just about every TV personality quickly ripped him a new one. Brazil even wants to have him come back for questioning. All this because he said he was robbed while the Brazilian media says he or others in his group wrecked a bathroom and caused other damage to signs on the building.

But there are some things that don't add up in my mind and I'm wondering whether everyone hasn't been too quick in condemning him. Rush to judgement, due process and all that. Consider the following.

Shortly after the incident was reported, ABC and I think it was USA Today sent people to the gas station and they found no damage to either the door or the inside of the bathroom. They did find a tear on a poster, what the Brazilian's have called signs but as to who caused it or how old the tear was is anybody's guess.

Lochte said he was robbed at gunpoint. There's a couple of conflicting viewpoints here. A guy who was bilingual and acted as translator between Lochte's group and the two security guards said did not remove their weapons. However it was reported that a woman who witnessed the confrontation from a distance said they did remove their guns although they were not pointed at Lochte. On this matter there's a couple of things that trouble me. First if someone with a visible gun, pointed or not, demands money, I'd consider that either a shakedown or robbery. At least in the USA. Secondly, at all the gas stations I've ever been to, I've never seen security guards armed or not. Gas stations are fairly low profit margins but high volume enterprises. You want to start hiring armed security personnel then you've got to pay them. Now maybe it's different in Brazil and this is the norm but it just strikes me as not in keeping with my experiences .

So, what am I missing here? Why wasn't Lochte afforde some sort of investigation into the incident at least by the US organizations that suspended him?

 

[Steve81]

So, what am I missing here? Why wasn't Lochte afforde some sort of investigation into the incident at least by the US organizations that suspended him?

Probably because we went from this:
http://www.today.com/news/ryan-lochte-had-gun-pointed-his-head-during-brazil-robbery-t101842

We got pulled over in our taxi and these guys came out with a badge, a police badge. No lights, no nothing, just a police badge. They pulled us over, they pulled out their guns. They told the other swimmers to get down on the ground, they got down on the ground. I refused. I was like 'We didn't do anything wrong so I'm not getting down on the ground. The guy pulled out his gun, he cocked it, put it to my forehead and said 'get down.' I was like (puts hands up) I put my hands up. I was like 'whatever.' He took our money, he took my wallet.

to this
http://www.espn.com/olympics/swimming/story/_/id/17336394/2016-rio-olympics-brazilian-police-say-video-shows-ryan-lochtes-swimmers-robbery-story-untrue

The official said Lochte's teammates Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz, who were pulled off a plane going back to the United States late Wednesday, told police that the robbery story had been fabricated.

 

[Chu Gai]

Does that mean that no money was demanded from them?

 

[Steve81]

Does that mean that no money was demanded from them?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/20/sports/olympics/ryan-lochte-apology-rio-olympics.html?_r=0

Fernando Deluz, a D.J. who was passing by the gas station, said he interpreted for the swimmers, none of whom speak Portuguese, in an effort to prevent the situation from escalating.

“There was a moment when they tried to escape, and that’s when the security guards stopped them,” Mr. Deluz said in nationally televised comments. “At no moment did anyone brush up against them,” he added. And when employees of the gas station discussed calling the police, the swimmers pleaded with them not do so, Mr. Deluz added.

“They were saying, ‘Please, please, no please,’” Mr. Deluz said, explaining that the swimmers began asking in English how much they needed to pay for the damages done to the gas station. The swimmers then handed over Brazilian and American currency totaling about $50 to Mr. Deluz, who said he gave the money to a security guard, who then passed it to a gas station employee.

“Then I talked to them and said, ‘That’s O.K., bye-bye,’” Mr. Deluz said.

The swimmers then went on their way to the athletes’ village, where they were captured on camera joking with one another and in possession of their phones and watches, items that are often taken from victims of armed assaults in Rio.

 

[rojo]

 

[Chu Gai]

Contrast that story from the NYT, which doesn't address the transfer or demanding OD monies, with this one, Steve. And really, did John Oliver send anyone down to investigate?

 

[rojo]

And really, did John Oliver send anyone down to investigate?

Character witness. Which is more likely? That there's a conspiracy by the Brazilian government to cover up the theft of a wallet? Or that Lochte is a fame-spoiled, entitled millennial douche with no sense of personal accountability?

 

[Steve81]

Contrast that story from the NYT, which doesn't address the transfer or demanding OD monies, with this one, Steve.

I'm not seeing much that fundamentally alters the story of what went down. It's acknowledged the swimmers were drunk, and it's acknowledged that Lochte did some damage. It's acknowledged that armed guards were present that prevented the swimmers from leaving the scene, and that Mr. Deluz stepped forward to act as a translator/negotiator. As for the negotiations, what was demanded, etc, you run into problems of a language barrier as well as an alcohol barrier. Per the USA Today story at least one of the swimmers (Congers) stated that he understood they weren't being robbed, but paying for the damaged sign. I don't consider Mr. Deluz's statement from the NYT article that the swimmers offered to pay for the damage in lieu of the police being called as being terribly improbable either, given the circumstances.

Now as I see it, Lochte getting drunk and damaging a sign doesn't mean a whole lot. Flat out lying to the world that he was just innocently riding along in a taxi, had a gun pressed against his forehead and robbed, yeah, that's a big deal.

 

[lovinthehd]

Who the hell cares?