Ryan Lochte, who announced that he was seeking treatment for a “serious” alcohol addiction on Friday, October 5, was involved in a car crash one night prior, Us Weekly can confirm.
A police report obtained by Us states that the athlete, 34, was driving his Porsche on Thursday, October 4, in Gainesville, Florida, around 9:45 p.m., when the driver in front of him slammed on his brakes.
The report states that while Lochte “attempted to brake and veer right,” he wound up striking a car on its rear passenger corner.
According to the report, the driver of the vehicle was transported to the hopsital with non-life threatening injuries.
As Us previously reported, the Olympic gold medalist had been involved in an incident in the early hours of Thursday morning in Newport Beach, California, when he allegedly attempted to kick down his own hotel room door.
The Newport Beach Police Department confirmed to Us that officers responded to a disturbance call at a Marriot Hotel of an unidentified male, who was suspected to be intoxicated, attempting to get inside a room at 3:07 a.m. The spokesperson added, “A solution that was agreeable to both parties was decided upon and police left the scene.”
No arrests were made at the time.
Lochte’s agent, Jeff Ostrow, gave a statement to Us regarding the swimmer’s struggles: “Ryan has been battling from alcohol addiction for many years and unfortunately it has become a destructive pattern for him,” he said, adding, “He has acknowledged that he needs professional assistance to overcome his problem and will be getting help immediately. Ryan knows that conquering this disease now is a must for him to avoid making future poor decisions, to be the best husband and father he can be, and if he wants to achieve his goal to return to dominance in the pool in his 5th Olympics in Tokyo in 2020.”
The Dancing With the Stars alum is currently in the middle of a 14-month suspension from competitive swimming for receiving an IV injection of what he claims were B-complex vitamins. While the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency acknowledged that the intravenous injection included permitted substances, the agency prohibits intravenous injections unless the athlete is receiving medical treatment or has received an exemption in advance.
Lochte was also suspended from the sport in 2016 after he was found to have embellished claims that he was robbed at gunpoint during the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
