Dane Swan reveals how he almost ended up in Brazilian jail, and how he avoided it

From winning the Brownlow Medal one week to facing Brazilian jail the next, Dane Swan has revealed how he got out the sticky situation.

Dane Swan has revealed how he nearly ended up in jail in Brazil shortly after winning the Brownlow Medal.

Dane Swan has told of the time he almost ended up in jail while on holiday in Brazil.

The former Collingwood champion says the frightening situation occurred after he’d won the Brownlow Medal in 2011.

He had spent the day with a group of friends in a shanty town when confronted by police.

“All the police wait because they’re not allowed into the towns,’’ Swan told KIIS FM’s Jase & PJ in the Morning podcast.

“All the police were waiting out the front for the gringos I think they call us, and we went down and the coppers pull over all the white guys, all the tourists out of there and they search.

“Never been more scared in my life. We bribed our way out of it.

“Between the five of us we had the equivalent of about $70 Australian.”

Swan said his thoughts shifted to the consequences of jail time as a big name footballer.

“I’m s***ting myself and I didn’t know where to look,’’ he said.

“I’m thinking I’d just won the Brownlow and this is going to be the end of my life.

“Don’t even worry about being stuck in a Brazilian jail cell. I’d just come off a decent year and had a reasonably big contract.

“They were doing this (sign) which means jail and I was like, ‘oh that’s not good’. Nice way to ruin my day.”

Dane Swan says he bribed the police to get out of going to jail in Brazil. Picture: David Caird.

The police asked for $10,000 and Swan’s friend said to just give them the small amount of money they had on them. Fortunately they accepted it.

“I said get me to an ATM, my mate was like Swan, relax, I’ll sort this out,’’ Swan said.

“They said give us everything you have in your wallets which was nothing because we’d spent it all.

“It went from 10,000 and we said this is all we got, we are tourists, we caught the bus here, we’ve got no money, we’re broke.

“He goes that’s it, not good enough you’re going to jail. I said let me go to an ATM. My mate said trust me.

“They walked back, talked, grabbed the money and told us to p*** off. I doubt police in Brazil know who we are.”

The 2010 premiership player, who is expecting his first child this month with partner Taylor Wilson, said it ended up being an enjoyable holiday.

“I had gone from being the most scared to the most free I’ve ever been,’’ he said.

“It was quite the rollercoaster. Gee, did we enjoy ourselves after that.

“We’ve gone from thinking my life’s over to what an unbelievable experience. That was good fun.”