AP WAS THERE: OJ Simpson’s slow-speed chase

EDITOR’S NOTE: The primary week of the O.J. Simpson case in mid-June 1994 moved shortly, with reporters racing to succeed in the information. The one factor that was gradual was The Chase.

The soccer nice had been accused of killing his ex-wife and her good friend, and there he was on reside tv, at the back of his good friend’s white Ford Bronco with a gun to his head. The freeway was like a parade — with the police, media and followers following “The Juice.” There have been crowds on the overpasses, indicators, cheers and fists punching the air because the pursuit unfolded.

In The Related Press newsroom, editors and writers had been riveted to small televisions. And that’s the place many would keep for the subsequent 17 months — glued to a TV because the so-called “Trial of the Century” unfolded.

After Simpson died Wednesday at 76, the AP is making out there the story wrapping up all of the developments from The Chase.

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O.J. Simpson was hunted down and captured in his driveway Friday evening after operating from costs of murdering his ex-wife and her male good friend and main police alongside 60 miles of freeways and metropolis streets.

“I can’t categorical the concern I had that this matter wouldn’t finish the way in which it did,” stated Simpson’s legal professional, Robert Shapiro, who had anxious earlier that the previous soccer nice would kill himself.

Exterior the partitions of Simpson’s property, members of Simpson’s household hugged one another and cried after phrase of the arrest got here out.

A cheer got here up from the gang of 300 spectators.

The arrest shortly earlier than 9 p.m. culminated an unbelievable drama that unfolded on reside nationwide TV during which police first introduced costs in opposition to the previous soccer nice, then stated he had disappeared and eventually adopted him alongside the highways for greater than an hour.

After the white Ford Bronco got here to a halt at Simpson’s property, a person believed to be his lifelong good friend and teammate, Al Cowlings, obtained out. Simpson’s lawyer arrived on the mansion practically an hour later and the arrest got here minutes later.

Earlier than fleeing as he was about to be arrested, the previous soccer nice left a handwritten letter proclaiming his innocence, saying goodbye to associates and making “a final want” to “go away my youngsters in peace.”

Shapiro earlier stated he feared Simpson was suicidal and pleaded with him to surrender. On the similar information convention, a good friend learn Simpson’s letter.

“I’ve had an excellent life, nice associates,” the soccer Corridor of Famer’s letter stated. “Please consider the actual O.J. and never this misplaced particular person.”

The district legal professional known as it “the autumn of an American hero,” and Los Angeles police, angered that he reneged on a promise to give up earlier within the day, mounted a manhunt for him and a former teammate.

Within the letter, Simpson wrote that he tried to do “many of the proper issues” in life and requested: “Why do I find yourself like this?”

“First, everybody perceive, I had nothing to do with Nicole’s homicide,” Simpson’s letter begins. “If we had an issue, it’s as a result of I beloved her a lot.”

“I don’t wish to belabor knocking the press, however I can’t consider what’s being stated. Most of it’s completely made up. I do know you could have a job to do, however as a final want, please, please, please, go away my youngsters in peace,” he wrote.

Shapiro stated Simpson has been “exceedingly depressed,” however he didn’t know if Simpson had dedicated suicide.

“I’m maintaining my fingers crossed and praying that we will carry him right into a courtroom,” Shapiro stated.

“Wherever you’re, for the sake of your loved ones, for the sake of your youngsters, please give up instantly.”

Police instantly mounted a manhunt when Simpson fled, and stated he could also be armed.

“Mr. Simpson is on the market someplace and we’ll discover him,” Police Cmdr. David Gascon informed reporters.

If convicted of killing Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman, Simpson – among the many most outstanding celebrities ever charged with homicide – may face the dying penalty.

“We noticed, maybe, the autumn of an American hero,” District Legal professional Gil Garcetti stated.

Simpson, 46, was scheduled to give up at 11 a.m. however did not honor the settlement made with Shapiro, Gascon stated.

Shapiro stated he was with Simpson, Cowlings and two docs in a home within the San Fernando Valley on Friday morning when police known as to say they had been coming to arrest him. He stated Simpson and Cowlings, who grew up with Simpson in a San Francisco housing undertaking and was his teammate in highschool, on the College of Southern California and the Buffalo Payments, vanished earlier than police arrived.

“The Los Angeles Police Division is actively trying to find Mr. Simpson,” Gascon stated. “The Los Angeles Police Division can be very sad with the actions surrounding his failure to give up.”

Authorities additionally had been in search of Cowlings, Garcetti stated, warning, “In the event you help him in any means you’re committing a felony.”

The investigation was anchored by a grisly array of proof, from media studies of a blood-stained ski masks to a bloody glove.

Gascon declined to say how the police misplaced Simpson, who was handcuffed and questioned by police Monday however let go. He had been seen at his home earlier within the week and attended his ex-wife’s funeral Thursday. Somebody resembling Simpson was seen driving away from his home an hour earlier than his anticipated give up.

Mike Botula, a spokesman for Garcetti, stated the costs included the particular capital punishment circumstance of a number of killings. There is no such thing as a bail in such instances, Botula added.

“A closing determination on whether or not we’d search the dying penalty will likely be made at a later time,” Botula stated.

Followers and colleagues of the sports activities legend who had insisted on his innocence had been pressured by Friday’s arrest warrant to confront an ominous risk – that Simpson may have killed the mom of their two youngsters, daughter Sydney, 9, and son Justin, 6.

“There’s nothing to say besides that the regulation should take its course,” stated Howard Cosell, who labored with Simpson on ABC’s “Monday Night time Soccer.”

The our bodies of Mrs. Simpson, the soccer star’s strikingly stunning ex-wife, and Goldman, a 25-year-old aspiring mannequin and waiter at a stylish restaurant, had been discovered exterior Mrs. Simpson’s posh condominium.

Mortally wounded by a number of stab wounds, the our bodies had been found in a pool of blood by a passerby.

The couple divorced in 1992 following a seven-year marriage. Whereas nonetheless married, Mrs. Simpson known as police in 1989 saying she feared he was going to kill her. She had been punched, slapped and kicked by Simpson, who pleaded no contest within the case, authorities stated.

Some studies urged the 2 had been trying to reconcile on the time of the slayings. They’d lately been seen collectively, however a household good friend stated these makes an attempt failed and Simpson had turned vengeful.

“He was telling her girlfriends and her that if he ever caught her with anybody he would kill her,” the good friend informed The Related Press, talking on situation of anonymity. “She completely broke it off with him three weeks in the past.”

Via his attorneys, Simpson maintained his innocence, claiming he was at house on the time of the slayings, ready for a limousine to take him to the airport for a flight to Chicago. He attended his spouse’s funeral Thursday and employed forensic consultants to help in his protection.

Simpson flew to Chicago the evening of the killings and was summoned house by police the subsequent morning.

In submitting the costs, authorities painted a grim image in stark distinction to Simpson’s swish strikes on the soccer discipline. Simpson was accused of utilizing a knife to kill Mrs. Simpson and Goldman. The knife hasn’t been discovered, Garcetti stated.

Goldman, his household stated, wasn’t romantically concerned with Mrs. Simpson. Reviews indicated he fought valiantly for his life.

Orenthal James Simpson is thought to many because the nimble and highly effective operating again for the Buffalo Payments, for whom he set a single-season NFL speeding report with 2,003 yards in 1973. He helped make USC a nationwide champion in 1967 and received the Heisman Trophy in 1968.

He additionally was broadly seen as a tv sports activities commentator and in commercials for Hertz rental automobiles. He additionally produced a number of tv motion pictures and had featured roles in such productions as “Roots” and “The Bare Gun” comedies.

After the warrant was introduced, Hertz dropped Simpson.

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Learn the AP’s full obit right here