Another twist to Lochte scandal

Ryan Lochte may not be quite the bad boy he’s being made out to be.

A USA Today investigation into the service station incident that has shamed the American gold medal swimmer suggests there are questions to be raised by some of the procedures of the Brazil police.

There are allegations that an intoxicated Lochte and team-mates Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen vandalised the petrol station’s bathroom after a Rio party, leading to them being apprehended by security and forced to pay for damages.

But in the USA Today report a Brazilian judge says police may have been hasty in determining the security guards did not commit a robbery in getting money from the swimmers to cover the damages.

A lawyer who has practiced in Brazil for 25 years says she does not think the actions of Lochte and Feigen constitute the filing of a false police report as defined under Brazilian law.

USA Today claims that Lochte didn’t enter the service station’s bathroom as suggested though he allegedly ripped down an advertising poster.

A Rio disc jockey, Fernando Deluz, was at the petrol station as the incident unfolded and helped out with language translations.

He claimed one guard took out a handgun and demanded the Americans pay for the damage they caused.

‘‘As soon as they drew their weapon, that’s when I got worried,’’ Deluz said in the USA Today report. ‘‘If it hadn’t been for wanting to resolve that, if I hadn’t involved myself, I thought – the police chief told me, ‘Man, if you hadn’t gone there in that moment, a tragedy could have occurred’.’’

He said it was the swimmers’ attitudes that got them into trouble.

‘‘What happened really – it’s not even the issue of knocking down and breaking the sign,’’ Deluz said.

‘‘It was the attitude of the guys of messing up the place and then wanting to leave without a satisfactory resolution.’’

Lochte has admitted ‘‘exaggerating’’ his story of events.

He has lost major sponsorships with the global shaming that has followed.

The swimmers handed over money to ease the situation at the petrol station amidst allegations that ‘‘badges were flashed’’.

But in the USA Today report, Joao Batista Damasceno, a Rio judge, does not discard the possibility that the guards’ actions could be rightly interpreted as a robbery.

‘‘If they only asked for the amount of the damage, it may not be a robbery,’’ Damasceno said in a message to USA Today.

‘‘But if the amount taken is higher than the value of the damages, with the use of a weapon by the ‘security,’ this is robbery.’’

Jeffrey Ostrow, Lochte’s attorney, steadfastly maintains the men were robbed.

‘‘That part of the story will never change,’’ Ostrow told USA Today. ‘‘We stand behind that.’’