Nearly 30 years ago, O.J. Simpson became a fugitive at the center of the most storied police chase in Los Angeles history.
On June 17, 1994 Los Angeles was mesmerized by live television news coverage of the pursuit, which began after Los Angeles police announced at a news conference that Simpson -- and NFL Hall of Famer and former USC football star -- was a fugitive from justice who was sought in the killings of his ex-wife and Ron Goldman. Brown Simpson and her friend were found stabbed to death on June 12, 1994
The shocking announcement came from LAPD Deputy Chief David Gascon at department headquarters after Simpson failed to show up as expected late that morning to surrender. Simpson had fled a San Fernando Valley home. His location was unknown to authorities.
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"The Los Angeles Police Department, right now, is actively searching for Mr. Simpson," Gascon said.
Later that day, the infamous chase began in Orange County. What unfolded over the hours that followed was unlike any freeway pursuit Los Angeles had ever seen before or since.
Simpson's driver, best friend and former Buffalo Bills teammate Al "A.C." Cowlings, on a call with police, said Simpson had a gun to his head inside the white Bronco and wanted to go to his house.
"This is AC, I have OJ in the car," Cowlings told authorities. "I'm coming up the 5 Freeway."
Tension was heightened earlier that day when attorney Robert Kardashian went on live TV to read a letter from his client. The letter read, in part, "Don't feel sorry for me. I've had great life, great friends. Please think of the real OJ and not this lost person."
The slow-speed chase, which coincided with Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Rockets and Knicks, headed north and crossed into Los Angeles County, lanes cleared for Cowlings and rows of pursuing officers with lights and sirens activated. Thousands cheered, hanging from freeway overpasses and stopped to get out of their cars. Some held signs and chanted: "Go, O.J.!"
LAPD detective Tom Lange, a lead investigator in the murder investigation, spoke with Simpson by phone during the pursuit, tirelessly trying to convince him to put the gun down and have Cowlings pull over.
"You're going to break somebody's heart is what you're going to do," Lange told Simpson. "Don't do this. Just toss it man, come on.
"You need to be with your family and your kids. You need your kids and your kids need you. You're being selfish with your kids man, they love you... They love you, and so does everybody else."
Once at his tree-canopied Brentwood home, Simpson -- still armed -- remained the SUV in a driveway standoff with LAPD SWAT members. At one point, his son Jason rushed toward the vehicle, but he was taken inside the house by officers.
Simpson surrendered at about 9 p.m., emerging from the Bronco and entering the home, where police allowed him to drink a glass of orange juice and phone his mother before taking him into custody.
Simpson was booked on two counts of first-degree murder for the June 12 stabbing deaths of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Lyle Goldman. Cowlings was never charged.
Simpson went to trial for the murders in what became a national spectacle, with gavel-to-gavel live television coverage. Simpson was acquitted of the murder charges in October 1995, 11 months after the trial started.
In 1997, a jury in Santa Monica found Simpson civilly liable for the deaths of Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson, and he was ordered to pay their families $33.5 million in damages. Much of that judgment is believed to have never been paid.
Simpson died Wednesday of prostate cancer, his family announced on his official X account. He was 76.
Below are the key moments from the chase, including an interview with NBC4's Conan Nolan, who was there.
Here are videos from the NBC4 archives:
