June 17, 1994 was already scheduled to be one of the busiest days on the US sports calendar.
Not only were New York Rangers fans celebrating the team’s first Stanley Cup victory in more than half a century, but the city’s beloved Knicks were squaring off with the Rockets in Houston for Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
Throw in Arnold Palmer’s final US Open round in his native Pennsylvania, as well as the start of the World Cup in Chicago, and much of the country had its Friday afternoon all scheduled.
Then OJ Simpson dialed ‘911,’ leading to an unforgettable spectacle watched by an estimated 95 million television viewers.
A beloved NFL star, actor, and football analyst, Simpson stood accused of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend Ronald Goldman. But rather than turning himself in, the Heisman winner climbed into the back of his friend and former teammate’s Ford Bronco for a leisurely paced police chase through the LA freeways. Over the ensuing hours, Domino’s Pizza would report record sales, ABC anchor Peter Jennings took a prank call on live television, and the country was introduced to the Kardashians.
The following is DailyMail.com’s look back on Simpson’s infamous police chase 30 years later.
Simpson passed away in April at 76 following a battle with cancer, but there was no outpouring of grief as one might expect for a Hall of Famer. Instead, his alma mater, the University of Southern California, and the NFL both remained silent on the subject of Simpson’s passing.
Officially, he was acquitted at his 1994 murder trial, although Simpson was later found responsible for Nicole and Goldman’s deaths at a subsequent civil trial.
‘The Juice’ would later serve nine years in prison after being arrested for forcing his way into a Las Vegas hotel room at gunpoint to retrieve sports memorabilia he claimed to be his.
But by then, Simpson’s reputation had been tarnished, and despite his frequent attempts to remain in the public eye, many believed him to be guilty of the 1994 double murder.
And it was during that chase when much of America first considered the possibility that OJ brutally stabbed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman to death near the entranceway of her Brentwood condominium.
June 17, 1994 began with detectives recommending Simpson be charged with two counts of first-degree murder after preliminary testing found Simpson’s blood type at the crime scene.
Similar evidence would ultimately point to Simpson as well: Bloody footprints matching his sized feet, a glove smeared with blood from both victims, his and Nicole’s blood found inside his white Ford Bronco.
Despite the mounting evidence, Simpson maintained his innocence, claiming he was at home at the time of the slayings and waiting for a limousine to take him to the airport for a redeye flight to Chicago. Trial testimony from his housemate, Kato Kaelin, and the driver would put Simpson’s alibi into question, but that information wasn’t yet known publicly.
The only thing the public did know was that Simpson had flown to Chicago on June 12, the night of the killings, and was summoned home by police the next morning.
Most Americans remained torn over Simpson’s potential guilt over the ensuing days. After all, Simpson had been repeatedly accused of domestic violence during his seven-year marriage to Nicole. He was even convicted of spousal abuse in 1989, but got off with a fine and probation.
Now, though, Simpson’s life was hanging in the balance, and with a potential decades-long prison sentence looming, the legendary running back agreed to turn himself into police.
Then he started having second thoughts.
Upset with his failure to surrender, the LAPD launched a manhunt for Simpson.
Meanwhile, attorney Robert Shapiro held a 5pm press conference, where Simpson’s friend, Robert Kardashian, revealed a handwritten letter from the missing suspect. It was Kardashian’s home where Simpson was last seen before his sudden disappearance.
‘I’ve had a great life, great friends,’ read Simpson’s letter, which Kardashian shared with media. ‘Please think of the real OJ and not this lost person.’
Simpson stressed he had ‘nothing to do with Nicole’s murder,’ adding that if ‘we had a problem, it’s because I loved her so much.’
Although his exact location was unclear, police and Simpson’s own lawyers believed him to be with his long-time friend and former teammate, AC Cowlings.
‘I’m keeping my fingers crossed and praying that we will be able to bring him into a court,’ Shapiro said at the evening press conference.
Shapiro would get his wish, but only after Simpson and Cowlings led police along 60 miles of freeways and city streets with dozens of cruisers trailing closely behind.
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It was nearly 6pm when Simpson first called 911, which helped authorities to pin down his location.
‘I’m just gonna leave,’ Simpson told the dispatcher. ‘I wanna go with Nicole. That’s all I wanna do. That’s all I’ve been trying to do.’
Police soon traced Simpson’s whereabouts to Freeway 5 in Santa Anna, where he was riding in the back seat of Cowlings’ white Ford Bronco (not to be confused with Simpson’s own white Ford Bronco, which was undergoing DNA testing).
News helicopters soon picked up the chase overhead as countless fans began lining LA’s freeways with signs reading ‘Run, OJ, Run’ and ‘Don’t Squeeze the Juice.’
Shortly thereafter it was Cowlings who was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher.
‘This is AC, I have OJ in the car,’ Cowlings said. ‘He’s still alive but he has a gun to his head. He just wants to see his mother. Let me get him to his house.’
Cowlings then exited the 405 at Sunset Boulevard, where the throngs of onlookers only intensified.
It was nearly 8pm when Cowlings’ Bronco arrived at Simpson’s home, where police and much of OJ’s family were waiting. He would soon turn himself in, but not until after a Howard Stern fan called in to ABC’s live broadcast to prank Jennings with an erroneous update.
‘We have on the phone with us as well Robert Higgins, who lives in the neighborhood and is on the ground and can see inside the van,’ Jennings told his audience of millions.
‘I see OJ, man, and he looks scared,’ the prank caller said. ‘And I would be scared ’cause there’s cops all deep in this.’
Jennings was apparently fooled, and continued asking questions, even after the caller referenced Stern’s producer, Gary ‘Baba Booey’ Dell’Abate.
Had it non been for Jennings’ on-air co-host, Simpson’s long-time friend Al Michaels, the ABC anchor would have never realized he was being pranked.
‘Lest anybody think that that was somebody who was truly across the street that was not,’ Michaels, an admitted Stern fan, told ABC’s audience. ‘He said something in code at the end that’s indicative of… a certain radio talk show host.’
In addition to Simpson, Cowlings was also arrested for aiding his friend, but charges were later dropped.
An epic eight-month trial ensued, after which Simpson was officially acquitted due to some costly missteps from prosecutors and the LAPD.
Despite that verdict, Simpson’s life would never be the same. The brutal murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman weren’t witnessed by a soul, but it was hard to find anyone who missed Cowlings’ Bronco creeping along the LA freeway on June 17, 1994.
And on that day, much of the country was sitting in judgement.
As LA District Attorney Gil Garcetti said after Simpson’s arrest: ‘We saw, perhaps, the fall of an American hero.’