What I do see is apparent arguments between the swimmers and the staff. I do see an American ripping down a poster.
Now here is what alarms me. They are leaving when a guy, who is not a security guard or dressed as a security guard, draws his gun on them inside a cap and forces them to put their hands up and sit.
At this point, we are told the Americans “agree” to pay 50 dollars. If so much damage....why so little money?
Ok, they were celebrating and got drunk and went overboard to an extent. But no evidence of any serious wrong doing. And for that they are forced off an aircraft??
I smell Socialist Third Worlder Bull Shit here. And an American hating media finally has their go to story.
You and I have the same take on this.
I "get it" that they were drunk, and to someone who is drunk and not familiar with the various iterations of Brazilian police uniforms, a security guard might appear to them as a man masquerading as a Brazilian police officer.
I can see in the video that they have their hands up. It has been agreed on all sides that the man pulled a gun on them. Seeing no obvious damage as has been alleged, at this point it looks reasonable to conclude they were "shaken down" i.e. robbed.
Some one of them is saying that $400.00 was taken. It is only the Brazilian police saying that it was $50.00.
Now Brazil wants $11,000.00 donated to charity to let the man have his passport back?
Third world shakedown is what it looks like to me.
As soon as they are all safely back in this country, they need to recant the spin Brazil is trying to put on this.
Its called “filing a false police report”. You think thats just fine? I’m going out on a limb here, but if these were a bunch of (black) sprinters instead of a bunch of lily white frat boy swimmers your take on this would be a bit different.
They are self entitled punks. They made their bed, now they need to lie in it.
My take also. But my British husband thinks I am ‘giving them a pass’ only because they are Americans. So, no one in our Media cares that there was a language gap, one of the guys was dressed like a policeman and had a gun on them, while they had their hands up??? They were idiots for sure, but this whole thing smells of a shakedown.
Somebody pulls a gun on me, and demands money before he will let me go, then I will conclude that I have been robbed, even if the man with the gun is wearing a uniform. Even if he IS a police officer.
Now Brazil wants $11,000.00 donated to charity to let the man have his passport back?
Third world shakedown is what it looks like to me.
Good job of putting this incident into perspective.
As you can see by even some Freepers' over-reaction of this over-hyped baloney, the public is easily manipulated into whatever narrative the Media desires.