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Shortly before midnight on June 12, 1994, O.J. Simpson's former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were found stabbed to death outside Brown's Bundy Drive Brentwood-area condominium in Los Angeles, California with the Simpson children sleeping in an upstairs bedroom. The Simpsons had been divorced since 1992. Evidence found and collected at the scene led police to believe that O. J. Simpson might have been the murderer.
Simpson's lawyers convinced the Los Angeles Police Department to allow Simpson to turn himself in at 11 a.m. on June 17 even though the double murder charge meant no bail and a possible death penalty verdict if convicted. Double homicide is a capital offense in California. In the end, the prosecution elected not to ask for the death penalty and sought a life sentence.
The Slow Speed Chase on June 17, 1994
June 17, 1994, over one thousand reporters waited for Simpson to turn himself in to police and then give a statement to the media after booking. When he failed to show, confusion set in, and at 2 p.m., an all points bulletin was issued by the police. Robert Kardashian, a Simpson friend and one of his defense lawyers, then read a rambling letter by Simpson to the collected media. In the letter Simpson said, "First everyone understand I had nothing to do with Nicole's murder… Don't feel sorry for me. I've had a great life." To many, this sounded like a suicide note and the reporters then joined the search for Simpson.
At 6:45 p.m., a sheriff's patrol car saw a white Ford Bronco belonging to Simpson's friend, Al Cowlings, going south on Interstate 405 (Simpson also owned a white Bronco, but it was Cowlings's vehicle that was involved in this incident.) When the officer approached the Bronco, Cowlings, who was driving, yelled that Simpson had a gun to Cowlings' head. The officer then backed off and a slow-speed chase began.
For some time a Los Angeles News Service helicopter contracted by KCBS had exclusive coverage of the chase, but by the end of the chase they had been joined by about a dozen others. NBC interrupted coverage of the 1994 NBA Finals to air the pursuit.
Radio station KNX also provided live coverage of the slow-speed pursuit. As the events unfolded, USC announcer Pete Arbogast, who was doing sports updates, and station producer Oran Sampson contacted former USC coach John McKay to go on the air and encourage Simpson to end the pursuit. McKay agreed and went on the air, asking Simpson to pull over and turn himself in instead of committing suicide.
Numerous spectators and on-lookers packed overpasses in front of the procession; some of them had signs encouraging Simpson to flee and many more were caught up in a festival-like atmosphere. Although Simpson had a loaded weapon, reportedly aimed at the head of Cowlings, and had led authorities on a car chase, no charges were ever filed for his illegal activities.
