Lochte Mum On Returning To Rio To Face Charge, Says He Wants To 'Move On'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Ryan Lochte isn't saying whether he'll return to Brazil to face a charge of filing a false police report over a gas station encounter during the Olympics.
Lochte told ABC's "Good Morning America" Tuesday that his legal team is dealing with the situation, adding "we're just trying to get this over with.''
"I just want to put his behind me and move on and move forward," he said.
He admits he lied about having a gun held to his head the gas station, where he and three other American swimmers had stopped to use a restroom.
"The thing that I told that wasn't true was having the gun pointed to my forehead and cocked. That was over-exaggerated," he said. "I'm not one to make excuses, but I was still intoxicated."
Lochte initially said that he and fellow swimmers Jack Conger, Gunnar Bentz and Jimmy Feigen were robbed at gunpoint in a taxi by men with a police badge as they returned to the Olympic Village from a party on Aug. 15.
Instead, Brazilian police said the men vandalized the bathroom of the gas station while intoxicated, were questioned by guards, then paid for the damage and left.
Lochte has since apologized for the incident, but said Tuesday that the police account of what happened is absurd. He did admit that he destroyed a sign at the gas station, but said he "never even entered the bathroom."
"I don't know if I would consider it as robbery or extortion or us just paying a fine," he said. "Just paying up for the poster being ripped."
He also said he never actually filled out a police report.
Lochte said he has offered to reimburse Feigen for a nearly $11,000 fine Feigen paid to resolve legal issues and leave the country.
"I'm human. I made a mistake and that's just something I'm going to have to live with," he said.
Despite his current woes, Lochte was named Tuesday as one of the contestants on the upcoming edition of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars.''
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