Re: Re:
Alpe d'Huez said:
If he were smart, he'd give an apologetic statement asap, saying they were drunk and foolish and regrets his actions and statements, and is willing to pay any restitution.
He already has issued an apology for his behavior. He’s being criticized for not apologizing for lying, when in fact the authorities have confirmed that the guard did draw a gun and demand money. So he did embellish the story, but it wasn’t exactly made up of whole cloth, either. As his lawyer said,
“A gun was pointed at the swimmers and they were forced to get out of their cab and give up their money. No matter what happened at that gas station, the swimmers were robbed by people with a gun appearing to be law enforcement. No matter what country you are in that is robbery and robbery is a crime.”
Yes, they shouldn’t have trashed the door or whatever they did, but the Brazilian police themselves have said that what the swimmers did was not a crime. Having a gun pointed at you is pretty scary regardless of what you did to precipitate the event. I think people are forgetting that the main reason this is big news is because Brazil is extremely insecure about its (well-deserved) reputation for being unsafe. If this had happened in New York, involving someone not particularly well-known, no one would pay much attention. Indeed, as Lochte's lawyer's statement indicates, if it had happened in the U.S., the person claiming robbery would have had a good case if the police had tried to charge him with making a false report.
Glenn_Wilson said:
He should do the only thing that is the right move at this time. GO BACK to BRASIL and Make a public apology then pay or do what is asked of him and what is required by their law.
Sitting in the USA does him no favors and makes the US TEAM look bad.
No questions just go back to Rio and face the consequences, that is not being a man or anything like that. It is owning up to your wrong.
I don’t think Brazil wants to see him again, and since they have let the others return to the U.S., the authorities have clearly moved on. Brazil doesn't care about restitution or paying damages (which are far less than $11,000, come on), Brazil cares about its image for tourists. The Lochte incident did immense damage in that respect, but having the facts of the story come out have helped the country repair that image (to the extent that it can be repaired; there have been so many other apparently true stories of tourists being attacked that one could regard the Lochte incident as a drop in the bucket).
Beech Mtn said:
It would serve him right if the teammates took Lochte out for a "party," drugged him, stuck him on a plane, and dumped his just-coming-to, semi-conscious body at the doorstep of the Rio police station anonymously.
Which teammates? The ones who were with him that night, who had every opportunity to tell the media that the story wasn’t true, and didn’t until they were pulled off the plane and hauled to the police station?
Let's also not forget that this story never would have emerged if Lochte's mother had kept her mouth shut. Yes, Lochte shouldn't have told her the story, but he clearly wasn't seeking media attention, as some of his detractors have implied. It was thrust on him after his mother spoke to the media. He shouldn't have given that beach interview, that was a huge mistake, but at least he didn't go seeking a reporter to tell the story to.
I don't think Lochte is much like LA in is character. He just does some dumb things. We know that Phelps is no choirboy, either. Really, drunk driving is a lot more dangerous, and ought to be a lot less forgivable, than falsifying some details of an encounter with an armed man.
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