The white Bronco chase was a low-speed police chase across Greater Los Angeles on June 17, 1994, involving Al Cowlings and O. J. Simpson—actors, then-former football players, and childhood friends. It began after the two went missing earlier that day, when the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) issued an arrest warrant for Simpson on suspicion that he had committed the recent Los Angeles murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. Lasting for roughly two hours, the chase was a media spectacle, and it became an iconic moment in American popular culture.
Simpson and Brown had divorced the prior year, following violent domestic disputes. After Brown and Goldman were fatally stabbed on June 12, Simpson became the primary suspect within the LAPD's investigation, and the department issued his arrest warrant in the early morning of the 17th. After Simpson had his lawyer Robert Kardashian notify the LAPD that he (Simpson) would surrender at the department's Parker Center headquarters in Downtown L.A, he failed to appear there. LAPD officers visited Kardashian's Encino home, where Simpson and Cowlings had stayed the night before. The two were missing, as Simpson was being driven away from public view by Cowlings in the latter's white 1993 Ford Bronco XLT. The LAPD declared Simpson a fugitive, and law enforcement and news media began searching for him and Cowlings. Kardashian then publicly read a statement from Simpson that was widely interpreted to be a suicide note.
Journalist Zoey Tur, flying in a telecopter, found Simpson and Cowlings at the El Toro Y interchange in Orange County, and soon after, California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer Ruth Dixon noticed the two driving on Interstate 405. She drove after them, and Cowlings yelled out to her that Simpson was sitting in the back of the Bronco, holding a gun to his own head; on Interstate 5, Cowlings called 911 to say the same. A team of LAPD, CHP, Orange County Sheriff's Department (OCSD), and Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) officers chased the car across major L.A. County roads—in order: State Route 91, Interstate 110, Interstate 405, and Sunset Boulevard. Thousands gathered in the surrounding streets to observe the chase, and many cheered Simpson on. Cowlings pulled into Simpsons' estate in Brentwood, where the two surrendered.
At its peak, 22 telecopters were flying above the chase to broadcast live footage to television news stations across the United States. The chase had also begun during Game 5 of the 1994 NBA Finals, and the game broadcast on NBC started showing the game and the chase simultaneously. With ~95 million concurrent viewers, the collective broadcast of the chase was one of the most watched moments in American TV history. The incident greatly influenced cable TV news programming and fueled the similar media spectacle that became of Simpson's 1995 trial, in which he was acquitted on both counts of murder.
Background
O. J. Simpson was an American football player. Having started playing at Galileo High School in San Francisco, he played at the collegiate level for the University of Southern California's (USC) Trojans and was subsequentially picked first by the Buffalo Bills in the 1969 NFL/AFL draft. Throughout his decade long career in the NFL and AFL, Simpson demonstrated great talent on the field, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest running backs of all time. Following his retirement in 1979, Simpson had emerged as a prominent cultural figure in America. He indulged in acting, became a sportscaster, and became a spokesman for several brands, most notably Hertz.
Simpson married Marguerite L. Whitley in 1967. A decade later in 1977, Simpson met an 18-year-old German American waitress named Nicole Brown at a Beverly Hills nightclub. The two swiftly began dating, and Simpson and Marguerite divorced in 1979. Simpson and Brown married in 1985. Their relationship, both before and after their marriage was marked with difficulties, with Brown frequently accusing Simpson of domestic abuse. An incident on New Year's Day 1989, where Brown was found by police battered and half-naked, hiding in the bushes following a 911 call where she stated that she thought Simpson was about to kill her, led to Simpson pleading no contest in spousal abuse and being given two years' probation, 120 hours of community service, and forced to donate $500 to a battered women's shelter. Brown divorced Simpson in 1992, citing irreconcilable differences.
On June 12, 1994, Brown and her friend Ron Goldman were found murdered outside the former's Brentwood, Los Angeles condominium. When Simpson was notified of his ex-wife's death, LAPD detective Ron Phillips testified that Simpson appeared upset about the murder, but rather unconcerned about the circumstances of her killing, only seeming to care if the children had seen it or her body. Detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) took Simpson in for questioning on June 13. Detective Todd Lange noticed that Simpson had a cut on a finger on his left hand, consistent to where blood samples from the crime scene indicated that the killer was bleeding from; when asked, Simpson initially stated that he had cut it in distress after learning of Brown's murder. After Lange then told Simpson that the blood had been found in his own car, Simpson then admitted that he had cut his finger on June 12, but could not recall how; he then subsequentially provided a voluntary blood sample. On June 14, Simpson hired Robert Shapiro to be his lawyer, and he began assembling the so-called "Dream Team", or his legal defense team. Preliminary DNA test results in the coming days indicated matches with Simpson, but Gil Garcetti, the Los Angeles County District Attorney, prevented filing charges until all results had come in.
Al Cowlings was a fellow American football player who had befriended Simpson during their time together at Galileo High School. Cowlings had dated Marguerite at Galileo High School, where they had relationship issues; Simpson stepped in initially as a mediator, but the relationship between the latter and Marguerite later evolved into a romantic one. Although this caused a rift between Simpson and Cowlings initially, they later reconciled. They both played for the Trojans at USC and even were a part of some of the same teams on the NFL and AFL. Retiring in 1979, the same year as Simpson, Cowlings also pursued a stint in acting afterwards. Cowlings had attended the funeral of Brown at Ascension Cemetery in Lake Forest on June 16, coincidentally his 47th birthday, where he served as pallbearer and gatekeeper. Simpson had also attended the funeral, despite increasing suspicion regarding his involvement in the double-murder.
Arrest warrant and initial flight On June 17, the final DNA results came back; subsequentially, Los Angeles Police Department detectives recommended that Simpson be charged with two counts of first-degree murder with special circumstance of multiple killings. An arrest warrant was successively issued and Robert Shapiro was subsequentially informed at 8:30 am (PDT) by the LAPD that Simpson was to turn himself in later that day. An hour later, at 9:30 am, Shapiro went to the house of Robert Kardashian, whose house Simpson had spent the night with Al Cowlings to avoid the media. There, Shapiro informed Kardashian that Simpson needed to surrender by 11:00 am, an hour after the murder charges were filed. Simpson stated that he was willing to surrender. The LAPD, believing someone of his status would not attempt to flee, agreed to delay his surrender in order to allow him to see a mental health specialist; Simpson had begun to exhibit signs of depression and suicidality in the preceding days.
More than 1,000 reporters awaited Simpson for his perp walk at the LAPD Headquarters at Parker Center, but he did not arrive. Afterwards, the LAPD informed Shapiro that Simpson was to be arrested at Kardashian's home. Shapiro and Kardashian relayed this information to Simpson. When the LAPD arrived an hour later, they met Simpson's lawyers, who agreed to facilitate his surrender and accompany him to the LAPD headquarters; however, when one of the physicians present in the house went upstairs to retrieve him, he discovered that Simpson and Cowlings had disappeared. After two hours, the LAPD informed reporters at the headquarters to head inside, where at 1:50 pm, Commander Dave Gascon, LAPD's chief spokesman, publicly declared Simpson a fugitive. The LAPD issued an all-points bulletin for him and an arrest warrant for Cowlings.
As Simpson began to mentally spiral, he began to compose what were interpreted by many to be last messages. He updated his will, called his mother and children, and wrote three sealed letters: one to his children, one to his mother, and one to the public. When Cowlings and Simpson embarked upon their flight, the three sealed letters were left behind at Kardashian's house. At 5:00 pm, Kardashian and one of his defense lawyers read the letter addressed to the public. In it, Simpson declared that he had nothing to do with Brown's murder. He described the fights with Brown and the collapse of their relationship. He implored the media to not bother his children as a "last wish". He wrote to his ex-girlfriend , who had broken up with him hours preceding the murder of Brown and Goldman, "I'm sorry ... we're not going to have, our chance ... [sic] As I leave, you'll be in my thoughts." Declaring that he "can't go on," he apologized to the Goldman family and concluded with "Don't feel sorry for me. I have had a great life, great friends. Please think of the real O. J. and not this lost person."
The letter was widely interpreted as a suicide note; Simpson's mother collapsed after hearing it and reporters joined the search for Simpson. Shapiro stated at Kardashian's press conference that he and Simpson's psychiatrists agreed with the interpretation that it was a suicide note. Appealing to Simpson via TV, he urged the latter to surrender.Brett Morgen, director (June 16, 2010). 30 for 30: June 17, 1994 (television). ESPN. Law enforcement and media personnel began searching for Simpson across Greater Los Angeles, initially believing that he was hiding out in another home. Unbeknownst to them at the time, Simpson and Cowlings had entered into a white 1993 Ford Bronco XLT recently bought by the latter, and were driving along Interstate 405, with Cowlings in the driver's seat and Simpson in the passenger seat. Simpson had planned to go to the Ascension Cemetery in Lake Forest, where the late Brown had been buried just a day earlier, but they were prevented from entering by a police car that cordoned off the entrance. Cowlings parked the Bronco nearby, with Simpson wanting to wait out the police car. While parked, the two listened in on the radio, where they became aware of the large-scale search for them; in response, Simpson moved from the passenger seat to the back of the vehicle. Now lying in the back, at around 4 pm, he then proceeded to instruct Cowlings to head to his Brentwood estate, where he wished to meet his mother.
Knowing that he was the target of a large and well-known search, Simpson called 911 directly at 5:51 pm. Law enforcement traced the call to the Santa Ana Freeway. At around 6:20 pm, a driver in Orange County notified the California Highway Patrol (CHP) of someone believed to be Simpson in a Bronco heading north on Interstate 5. The law enforcement continued tracing Simpson's calls; phone-tracking from the FBI determined that the Bronco was around the El Toro Y interchange between Interstate 405 and Interstate 5.
Chase