More News Videos
US swimmers booed in Rio de Janeiro
Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger are booed as they leave a Rio de Janeiro police station, where they were indicted on charges of reporting a false crime.
Rio de Janeiro: US gold medallists Ryan Lochte and James Feigen have been charged with making a false police report, Rio police have confirmed.
Earlier on Thursday, Brazilian investigators said the swimmers had lied about being robbed to cover up an incident at a Rio petrol station.
![Part of the CCTV aired by Globo shows the swimmer coming out of the area at the back of the petrol station where police ...](/web/20160820051326im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/w/4/7/q/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqw3ju.png/1471580108519.jpg)
Police chief Fernando Veloso held a length press conference in the afternoon to discuss details of the case and pointed to several inconsistencies between the athletes' statements to police after the incident and subsequent witness statements and CCTV footage from the petrol station.
"There was no robbery as reported by the athletes. They were not victims of the crime acts they reported. Police can already confirm that," Veloso said.
Veloso said the swimmers should apologise to the people of Rio for making the allegations. "It would be altruistic and noble", he said.
The police said swimmers Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz, who were with Lochte at the petrol station and were subsequently pulled off a plane going back to the US late on Wednesday, had told them that Lochte's robbery story had been fabricated.
Video has since emerged of the three athletes, plus a fourth swimmer, Jimmy Feigen, coming out of a corridor that leads to a bathroom at the petrol station at Barra da Tijuca, at about 6am, followed by a petrol station attendant. Other attendants then join them.
Video from a second camera shows the swimmers walking towards taxis lined up at the pump, trying to get into one, then moving on to another. A third shows them being made to sit down, some with their hands up, at a curb.
![CCTV aired by Globo shows the swimmers getting into a cab. Police said the driver obeyed instructions not to leave until ...](/web/20160820051326im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/w/4/7/r/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqw3ju.png/1471580108519.jpg)
Witness statements by an attendant and a second man, a customer who offered to help with translation, were released by police on Thursday morning.
In the statements, the attendant said the swimmers caused damage to a toilet and that security was called. Security guards then instructed the driver of the taxi the swimmers were in to keep the group at the station until police arrived.
![Part of the CCTV aired by Globo appears to show the swimmers, left, sitting on a curb at a car washing area of a petro ...](/web/20160820051326im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/w/4/6/l/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqw3ju.png/1471580108519.jpg)
The attendant told police the swimmers were "aggressive and clearly drunk". Police said one of the swimmers they had interviewed later said Lochte was the most "hot-tempered".
The statements indicate the security guards had showed badges to the swimmers and that one had a gun. Lochte had told US television station NBC the group was robbed by men posing as police, with one putting a gun to his head and telling him to "get down".
![Doubts have arisen over Ryan Lochte's robbery story.](/web/20160820051326im_/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/s/c/p/9/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqw3ju.png/1471580108519.jpg)
The police official said the guard was armed with a pistol, but he never took it out or pointed it at the swimmers.
The petrol station manager asked the swimmers to pay for the damage to the toilet, including to a paper holder, soap holder, sign and door. After an argument the witness said they offered $US20, plus 100 reais.
The CCTV footage obtained by Brazil's Globo TV did not show any signs of a robbery.
Rio police gave an exclusive interview to Globo confirming the footage as genuine and reiterating there was no robbery.
Conger and Bentz were taken off their plane and told to remain in Brazil during the investigation, due to a Brazilian judge casting doubts on the swimmers' story. They have now had their passports returned and have left Brazil.
Lochte had earlier claimed he had a gun held to his head when their taxi was rammed by another car then robbed by two men with police badges. He altered his story, saying the gun was pointed towards him and not at his head, after authorities struggled to corroborate it.
The police say they are now considering charging the swimmers with vandalism and giving false testimony.
"In theory, they could be held responsible - by they, I mean one or two or all four of them - with falsely reporting a crime and vandalism," the head of Rio's civil police, Fernando Veloso, said.
NEW: Surveillance video shows U.S. swimmers at gas station where alleged incident took place https://t.co/i3Jx7ab4DMhttps://t.co/0b05JVhpMy
— ABC News (@ABC) August 18, 2016
Meanwhile, two Australian swimmers have been disciplined after a night out in Copacabana that the AOC says saw Josh Palmer, forced to go to an ATM and robbed of $1000.
Both have been denied a spot at the Games closing ceremony and put on curfew at the athletes' village.
- with AP