[TV static]
[male interviewer] Do you recall, at any time,
either at the wake or funeral,
just spontaneously saying, "I loved her too much"?
Not "too much." No. That I loved her.
- Okay. - 'Cause I didn't do it. I loved her.
[ominous music playing]
[man] O.J. Simpson is my childhood idol.
- He became a client, became a friend. - [camera clicking]
[dramatic music playing]
I represented O.J. for roughly 22 years.
He said, "My image, what people see of me,
is the most important thing I have."
As little as $69 a week.
[explosion booms]
When you go to a party,
there's people that walk in,
and I hate the saying, they light up a room.
[crowd cheering]
But some people walk in,
and it doesn't matter if they're good-looking, attractive, not attractive,
they walk into a room and you notice them
and your eyes will follow them.
O.J. had that ability.
He had "it."
Hey, Juice.
Then my wife said, "We'll never let him in our house."
[male interviewer] Do you know why the blood on the panel of the Bronco
matched your blood?
No.
An agent's job is to create an illusion.
[inspiring music playing]
So you have a hero.
[male interviewer] Do you know why the blood in the Bronco
matched Nicole's blood?
No.
I'm sure we're gonna have a real fine time together, right?
On-screen, he came across as a likable, happy person.
Well, if there is some trouble, I'll just bust a few skulls.
It's not reality.
[male interviewer] Do you know why the blood found on the Rockingham driveway
matched your blood?
No.
Was O.J. a really good person who is capable of doing bad things?
[male interviewer] Do you know why the blood on the socks in your bedroom
matched Nicole's blood?
No.
Or was O.J. just a really bad person
that occasionally did good things?
[male interviewer] Do you know why the blood at Bundy matched your blood?
No.
I still don't know. Who was he?
Which person did I know?
[laughing]
[man] We are back on the record now…
[dramatic music playing]
[Lange] Friday, June 17th.
Once the solid evidence became certain,
we got the warrant early in the morning, his attorneys were contacted.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney has just filed murder charges
against Orenthal James "O.J." Simpson.
He is expected to surrender to Los Angeles Police
for booking and arraignment shortly.
O.J. was supposed to turn himself in by 11:00 a.m.
Phil and I wanted to go out and pick him up.
But the brass wanted a "perp walk," as they call it.
It's O.J. Simpson, which was a big deal.
We want to see the perpetrator here of this big crime
paraded in front of our cameras.
Preferably with handcuffs on and a scowl on his face
because it looks good for the 11 o'clock news.
It's nonsense, and it shouldn't have happened.
We had heard a rumor the night before,
but it was at 8:30 in the morning that day.
We found out that the LAPD was going to arrest O.J. Simpson.
Simpson's gonna surrender. There's an arrest warrant.
I remember thinking,
"Why is he allowed to turn himself in? Don't they go to arrest him?"
That's a courtesy, I guess, they make to more high-profile people.
Didn't know that.
This idea of allowing the guy to surrender in a couple of hours,
to me, is insanity.
You're saying, "Have lunch," you know, "High tea, whatever."
That's no way to treat a person you believe to be a double murderer
who almost cut a woman's head off.
I was on my way to Rockingham and figured I'd see O.J. once I got there.
Then on my way, I found out that he had left Rockingham
and he went to Bobby's place on the other side of the hill.
And when I say Bobby, I mean Robert Kardashian,
which, of course, people now will know the Kardashian girls.
That's his daughters.
[Nolan] Robert Shapiro, the litigator, he talked to the LAPD.
"You don't have to come hook him up. We'll bring him to the station."
The question was, where is he going to turn himself in?
My editor said, "Go down to Parker Center."
So we went down there, and that was sort of a madhouse.
[helicopter whirring]
[male reporter 1] I think there is three times the media
that there was 30 or 45 minutes ago.
We were told O.J. was going to turn himself in at 10:00, then at 11:00.
- [male reporter 1] A car coming in. - [male anchor] We see that.
[male reporter 1] We have a blue sedan. I see someone in the back, I can't--
No, just turning around. False alarm.
I'm in the lobby of Parker Center. There are cameras set up.
We're into programming. It's wall-to-wall coverage,
and we hear that there's something happening at the Bundy address.
And I see on a monitor, there's a helicopter shot
of a couple of white vans and a crowd of people.
I'm thinking, "Was O.J. there?"
And I see a captain from the media department,
and I say, "Listen, so is O.J. there?" And he says, "No, he's not there."
"Well, what's the crowd doing there?"
He says, "Well, the crowd's there because there are helicopters above."
Why haven't you cleared this scene if there's nothing going on?
We've asked you to leave. You won't leave.
O.J. Simpson was gonna turn himself in. That's what was gonna happen.
There was gonna be a lot of attention paid to his arrival
and his processing, but this was gonna happen.
We had no doubt.
And he never showed up.
[tense music playing]
So I called Shapiro.
He was at Bob Kardashian's house in Encino.
I said, "What's going on?" He said, "Well, you know how he is."
"He's upset and I don't know what we're going to do."
And "blah, blah," this, that, and the other.
So I said, "Well, we can come out and pick him up."
Meanwhile, I dispatched two police cars to the house.
[sirens wailing]
And unbeknownst to us,
while we're on the phone talking, O.J. took off.
[Gilbert] Called the house. He wasn't there.
Called Bobby's. He was gone.
I thought, "Okay, they wouldn't lie to me."
They'd tell me where. Nobody knew where he was.
There's gonna be a news conference at maybe 10:00.
News conference maybe at 11 o'clock.
And then it kept being pushed back.
- Ready to go in two minutes. - [man] Two-minute warning.
I was in the field, and the TV was up
and, all of a sudden, Commander Gascon and Parker Center,
at the podium, comes up.
[man] He's on the stage.
I know David Gascon. He looked pissed.
Mr. Simpson,
in agreement with his attorney…
was scheduled to surrender this morning to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Initially, that was 11 o'clock.
It then became 11:45.
Mr. Simpson has not appeared.
[dramatic music playing]
It's like he doesn't know what to do.
Something isn't going according to plan.
The Los Angeles Police Department,
right now, is actively searching for Mr. Simpson.
[crowd murmurs]
There were gasps in the room.
That was the ultimate "holy cow" moment.
Mr. Simpson is a wanted murder suspect,
two counts of murder, a terrible crime.
We need to find him, apprehend him, we need to bring him to justice,
and we need to make sure that we find him as quickly as possible.
It was the one thing we weren't expecting.
All of a sudden we think, okay, that is an admission of guilt.
If you flee.
[journalists shouting]
[male journalist 1] Didn't you have a tail on the suspect the entire time?
Commander Gascon, didn't you have a tail
on the suspect all the time?
Weren't you watching him constantly?
We're, uh, not gonna make any comments
relative to the investigative efforts itself.
- [male journalist 1] How did you lose him? - Would you like for me to answer?
If this was our decision, he'd be in jail right now
and none of this nonsense would've happened.
But the brass had other ideas,
and they paid for it in embarrassment.
The whole thing had broken down.
[male journalist 2] Was O.J. given special consideration
because of, uh, his celebrity status?
There is no preferential treatment,
there has not been any preferential treatment.
He is a wanted murder suspect, and we will go find him.
[journalists shouting]
The news conference ends, all of a sudden O.J. Simpson was…
was a fugitive from justice. He could be anywhere.
All Gascon had to do was say, "It's Simpson and he's gone,"
and it's everywhere.
Unbelievably, the most-watched, most-wondered-about man in America
has gone missing.
O.J. Simpson, one of our most public figures,
even before this week's incredible events,
is now one of our most wanted ever.
There is nothing like this in memory. Nothing.
"O.J. Simpson's a fugitive of the law." It was just such a powerful statement.
[upbeat theme tune playing]
♪ Known throughout the nation ♪
♪ As Hertz the superstar ♪
[male reporter] Howard Cosell used to say, "The Juice is loose,"
but believe me, he never meant anything like this.
I start making the normal contacts with the Feds,
immigration, border security.
[male reporter] There is some concern that possibly
with his connections and with his resources financially,
that he might charter an aircraft and possibly try to flee the area.
How many times have you wanted to pack it all in and take off?
They thought he was headed to Mexico.
[upbeat Mexican music playing]
When you're looking for somebody, we'll put out a BOLO alert.
Be on the lookout for…
[male dispatch] Attention all units and stations for station 18 per LAPD.
Attempt to locate 187 suspect.
First name spelling Oscar-Romeo-Echo
November-Tango-Hotel-Alpha-Lima.
Middle: James.
Male, Black, six foot two, 210 pounds, 46 years old.
This goes out worldwide, basically.
- O.J. Simpson. - O.J. Simpson
[speaking Spanish]
Where's he gonna hide?
How do you hide this guy? Where's he gonna go? What's he gonna do?
I pray for him, and I hope that he turns himself in.
We all would like to hear his side of the story.
I just hope he can run as fast now as he used to be able to.
[tense music playing]
We fully anticipated that Mr. Simpson would have been arraigned this afternoon.
As of this time, approximately 3:00 p.m., no one knows where he is.
Gil Garcetti said he needed to turn himself in immediately.
Almost making a plea.
The information that we have
is that Al Cowlings, who is a former football teammate of his,
was the last person seen with O.J. Simpson.
A.C. is like a brother to O.J.
What O.J. did, A.C. did.
He was very loyal to his friends.
He was very close to Nicole and the whole family.
I think he was hurt. I really do.
By all of this. I don't think he saw it coming.
If you in any way are assisting Mr. Simpson in avoiding justice…
Mr. Simpson is a fugitive of justice right now.
And if you assist him, in any way,
you are committing a felony.
Think about it.
I had checked in to the Hyatt Hotel at LAX
and was constantly trying to get in touch with O.J.
I was leaving messages. "O.J., you know, it's Mike."
"If you need anything, I mean… anything, let me know."
Within a couple of minutes, I get a phone call from the front desk
and they said, "Yeah, somebody's calling. They don't know your name."
"Just a guy named Mike. Do we put them through?"
And I'm thinking, "Well, O.J. knows my last name."
I said, "Yeah, put him through."
They said, "Hey, yeah, my name is so-and-so and it's…"
"Hey, so what did you mean when you said 'anything'?"
I said, "Well, who is this?"
And the guy said, "Well, I'm O.J.'s neighbor."
"And O.J. and I got our cell phones at the same place
and, because of that, we get each other's messages sometimes."
And I immediately thought, "Wait, cell phones don't work that way."
"This is bullshit."
It turned out it was LAPD, they were intercepting the calls.
They got pissy, wanted to know, "What did you mean?"
"You gonna help him get away?"
And they started interrogating me, and I told them to fuck off.
There was a real mystery as to how he had been able to evade
both Robert Kardashian and Robert Shapiro.
We understand now that Furnell Chatman is standing by a news conference
by Robert Shapiro, O.J.'s attorney. Furnell?
And all of a sudden, we hear that there was going to be a press conference.
Yes, he has just arrived, Robert Shapiro,
and he is about to inform us as to how things stand.
At about 9:30, I arrived at a residence in San Fernando Valley where O.J. was.
And I told him that I had been informed by the Los Angeles Police Department
that he was being charged with first-degree murder
and that we would have to surrender by 11 o'clock.
Later on, we find out that there was a criminalist and a doctor
and a couple other people examining Simpson at Kardashian's home.
They were taking pictures of his injured finger,
taking hair samples, blood samples,
to probably counteract what we had already done.
I told O.J. that we had to really get moving.
He said he needed some time to talk to his family.
He called his children and talked to them.
[camera clicks]
- He called his mother and talked to her. - [camera clicks]
Sometime later in the morning, the police arrived.
It was at that time that we discovered for the first time
that O.J. was not present.
Al Cowlings was not present.
Now I would like to introduce Mr. Robert Kardashian.
This letter was written by O.J. today.
"To whom it may concern."
"First, everyone understand, I had nothing to do with Nicole's murder."
"I loved her."
"Always have and always will."
[camera clicks]
[mysterious music playing]
[camera clicks]
O.J. Simpson met Nicole at a place called The Daisy.
[gentle music playing]
She was 18, working as a waitress.
[camera clicks]
O.J. saw her and just, kind of like, "Wow. I want to meet this woman."
O.J. met her there and they just started dating.
[woman] She called me and she says,
"Mom, I'm coming by with a friend of mine."
And I said, "Fine!" And she says, "Mama…"
"He's a Black man." I said, "That's okay."
- She was totally in love with him. - This girl was totally in love.
They both, both loved one another a lot.
- [camera clicks] - It was very intense.
"Nicole and I had a great relationship."
[indistinct chatter]
"For most of our lives together."
Oh God, I can't even believe this.
Is he nervous?
[man] I just trust that by the way you live
and by the way you treat others, O.J.,
by the way you value life,
that you will lead Nicole to say continually with breathless wonder,
"Oh God, I'm a woman most fortunate,
for out of all of this world, O.J. has chosen me."
I, O.J., take you, Nicole…
I, O.J., take you, Nicole.
[man] To be my wedded wife.
To be my wedded wife.
Mr. and Mrs. O.J. Simpson.
- [applause] - [woman] It's gonna last forever.
And I can't wait to see their little babies.
Aren't they gonna be cute?
They got kids right away, and that started their life.
[Nicole] When you watch this tape when you get older,
see that little quilt you're laying on?
Mommy made that for you.
[Kardashian] "To the press as a last wish,
please, please, please leave my children in peace."
"Their lives will be tough enough."
[O.J. Simpson] There's the hospital,
and we're gonna go in this hospital and pick up Justin Ryan Simpson!
And there's Mommy!
Daddy looks pretty handsome at 41, doesn't he?
But with very intense relationships,
when they get negative, they can get very negative.
"Like all long-term relationships, we had a few downs and ups."
He felt that he also kind of created Nicole.
Her life was her life because he gave that to her.
"If we had a problem, it's because I loved her so much."
[Shipp] He said it in his own words, he loved her so much.
And he didn't want to see nobody else with her.
"Recently, we came to the understanding
that, for now, we were not right for each other."
"At least for now."
I think a person like that doesn't like to lose,
and he thinks he could get it back no matter what.
I think it goes back to his football.
It's like, "We're never out of the game. I can get her back."
But I think that game was lost.
He finally knew that she could actually move on.
And I think it devastated him.
"I think of my life and feel I've done most of the right things."
"So why do I end up like this?"
"Please think of the real O.J. and not this lost person."
[Simpson] I appreciated your cheers.
I already know it's what I'm gonna miss most.
[Kardashian] "Thanks for making my life special. I hope I helped yours."
"Peace and love. O.J."
To me, it sounds like, you know, he want to commit suicide.
The note sounded like he's saying goodbye.
It's definitely a goodbye note, whether it means goodbye from this country
or goodbye from this planet.
[Shipp] I thought he would do it.
I really did, you know.
Someone who's in love with himself doesn't kill himself.
The letter was heartbreaking,
and I thought that he would kill himself
because he did love himself so much
and he loved the image that he worked a lifetime to create.
That was gone.
[Kaelin] It was just…
a narcissistic letter.
And I don't think anybody would end it with a happy face.
That was probably the first ever emoji.
There's a smiley face in the bottom of the letter.
We knew about his narcissism.
It was going beyond that. He's a sociopath. No doubt in my mind.
This is a "Woe is me, please forgive me, I love Nicole, and I this, and I that."
On and on and on for four pages.
[ominous music playing]
Nobody knows what to do. It was panic city right then.
[man] I've always said I was put on this Earth to sue cops.
It's what I love doing.
It allows me to make the world better for somebody else.
It is righteous.
We put so much trust and faith in our police
that when they do us wrong, it can be devastating.
I was the managing lawyer in Johnnie Cochran's office.
Johnnie's firm, as a civil rights firm,
really spoke to me as a young lawyer in the early '80s.
- [camera clicking] - I always thought that we as a firm
were uniquely qualified to handle this kind of a case.
It was the biggest case.
Johnnie was the biggest criminal lawyer in Los Angeles at that time.
- [camera clicks] - But this was not our case yet.
I thought his cry for help was not some consciousness of guilt.
But it was something deeper.
[dramatic music playing]
He never had been the source
of any negativity from the public like this.
He's a idol to kids, and I don't know what happened.
Like, the guy that I knew, the hero that I had, um,
it's like he's killing himself.
So, the note, I feel, is a goodbye note.
I can only imagine the impact that it had on him.
He wanted, basically, to rid himself of this pain
of being the focus of this negative publicity.
He could not have fathomed
people thinking he could do something like this.
Everyone was on pins and needles wondering how it was gonna play out.
[tense music playing]
[Lange] Sooner or later, he's gonna turn up.
Maybe we won't find him today or tomorrow.
- [music stops] - Not gonna hide forever, you can't.
I used to run through airports. Now I fly through them.
[exuberant music playing]
With new Hertz Number One Express Service,
I fly non-stop from my plane to my car.
[tense music playing]
[phone ringing]
[woman] Highway patrol.
[man] Yeah, I think I just saw O.J. Simpson on the 5 freeway,
and there was…
He's heading north, and I got the license plate of the white Bronco.
[music intensifies]
[male officer] On the 5 from El Toro at 16:46 hours.
Special attention South County…
My ex-husband, Bob and I owned a helicopter
and we were basically in charge of covering whatever news
we could find from the air.
- We're listening to scanners. - [indistinct radio chatter]
The chatter amongst the different helicopters and the LAPD.
We heard that he'd been spotted at the El Toro Y,
which is a section of freeway down in Orange County.
Bob turns around and says,
"We're at the El Toro Y!"
"Oh my God. There it is!"
[man] Bob Tur up in chopper two.
Bob, you believe that to be O.J. Simpson down there below you?
[Bob] Here we are, open the door.
So I swung the door open on the helicopter,
you see the movement of me going…
Looking around for the Bronco, and there it was.
[Bob] Okay. It's a white, white car.
[Lange] I'm at my desk in the corner of the office.
We have a television set and somebody said,
"Hey, Simpson's on the TV."
I said, "Shit. Here we go."
[dramatic, tense music playing]
[male reporter] O.J. Simpson is believed to be in the white Bronco
that you see in the center of your picture.
We said, "Hey, wait a minute." The only white Bronco we know we had in custody.
Unbeknownst to us, there's two Broncos.
O.J. has a white Bronco, A.C.'s got a white Bronco.
[male officer] White Ford Bronco is northbound on the 5
occupied by one male, Black, in the number three lane
at approximately 30 miles an hour.
This is gonna be a mess.
I get a call from my assignment desk
saying the highway patrol has picked him up
and are pursuing him out of Orange County.
He's headed back up towards LA.
Photographer Dana Roker and I get in a van, unmarked.
We pull over and we waited.
- [man] O.J. - [woman 1] Freeway.
[woman 2] Bronco.
- [woman talking indistinctly] - I have to interrupt this call.
I understand we're going to go to a live picture in Los Angeles.
KCBS found him on the freeway, and then we all sat and watched the chase.
[Larry King] California Highway Patrol has now confirmed
that it is definitely Al Cowling's vehicle.
And they are certain that O.J. is in the passenger seat.
I was at my buddy's house watching the NBA Finals when the story broke.
They cut into the basketball finals.
And said that he is believed to be in this Bronco.
And the game went from the main part of the TV
to the small part of the screen.
I'm Tom Brokaw in New York. You're looking at a Ford--
They put it on the jumbotron at Madison Square Garden.
From what I understand, 95 million people watched that pursuit.
95 million.
I think I opened up a beer. You know, we weren't used to seeing
high-speed or slow-speed chases on television at that point in time.
[tense music playing]
[Rivera] I watched like everybody else.
Most people know me from my career in broadcasting,
which is over a half-century.
In 1994, I had just begun a new program called Rivera Live.
Hi, I'm Geraldo Rivera…
Minutes after I saw what was on the screen,
I knew that that defined what I wanted to do with Rivera Live.
O.J. was somebody who was part of Americana.
An American hero.
And here he was, caught in this unbelievable jam,
acting out right in front of millions, maybe billions of people.
That Bronco became my show.
[phone ringing]
[man] 911, what are you reporting?
[Cowlings] This is A.C. I have O.J. in the car.
I'm coming up the 5 freeway.
Right now, we all… We're okay,
but you gotta tell the police just to back off.
He's still alive, but he's got a gun to his head.
[man] 31 unit, back up a little bit. The guy's got a gun.
All of a sudden somebody says, "We just got a hold of the sheriff,
and he's got a gun!"
[music intensifies]
[Larry King] Now police radio is saying that Simpson, the passenger in the car,
has a gun at his head.
[man] Mm. Oh no.
[Larry King] Which explains why they haven't been stopping
and why they haven't moved up alongside.
[man] Oh no.
[man] Is everything else okay?
[Cowlings] Everything right now is okay, Officer. Everything is okay.
He wants me to get him to his mom.
- He wants me to get him to his house. - [dispatcher] Okay.
[Cowlings] That's all I… That's all we ask.
- He's got a gun to his head. - Okay, and sir, what's your name?
My name is A.C. You know who I am, goddamn it!
[dispatcher] Okay.
I knew it was serious. O.J. had a gun to his head.
[ominous music playing]
I started crying.
You got to assume the gun is real.
You gotta assume the gun is loaded.
And you also gotta assume he's gonna use it.
Now we got a super big problem.
Is he gonna shoot himself?
Is he gonna shoot A.C.?
Is he gonna start shooting at the cops behind him?
[muted explosions]
[Kim Goldman] We had a house full of people talking.
"The police should blow out those tires, the police should just shoot him."
I was like, "No, we need him alive. We need to go to court."
[sirens wailing]
We figured that was the only way we were gonna find the truth.
[Nolan] One car between us and…
I believe he's going to the 405.
It was no more than a couple of minutes
before I looked in the rearview mirror
and seeing this phalanx of black and whites
trailing this Ford Bronco
and then making the decision for us to pull in front of him.
I got on the two-way radio, had them call me.
Went on television and we broadcasted from in front of the white Ford Bronco.
- [man] Conan, can you hear me? - Hello, Paul, can you hear me?
[Paul] Yes, I can, Conan, go ahead. Where are you?
[Nolan] Well, we are right in front of O.J. Simpson's vehicle,
and let me assure you, that there's no way he knows that this is a television truck.
This is a very orderly pursuit. It's as if… It's almost like a motorcade.
[sirens wailing]
One of the anchors says, "Listen, just to let you know,
he's in the backseat and…
and he has a gun."
And I remember thinking, you know, "I don't wanna be the guy who kills him."
Because we had heard the note being read by Robert Kardashian
where he blamed the media.
And all I could think of is that he'll see our camera
and he'll use that as the opportunity to pull the trigger.
[sirens wailing]
It was at that point that we decided to pull off.
- [sirens wailing] - [dramatic music playing]
I'm figuring, okay, he's on his way home because 405 goes up to Sunset Boulevard.
[music intensifies]
[male reporter] You can see 4, 5 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 units now
converged on this location.
I got in my car,
and it just so happened as I merged,
above me were just all these helicopters.
It looked like the movie Apocalypse Now.
[explosion]
[Lange] If we'd only let us alone to do what we do,
go on pick him up, we wouldn't be seeing this crap.
I just knew it was gonna get worse.
[sirens wailing]
People had come out to watch this in person.
[indistinct chatter]
- [helicopter whirring] - [sirens wailing]
The number of people who were on overpasses.
[man 1] They're hearing it on the radio, catching it on the TV,
and then making a quick exit out of their houses.
[man 2] Traffic in the south lane, stopping and looking.
Police cars trailing, other traffic stopping off to the right.
[man 3] So, look, we've got people running across the freeway.
- [man 4] That is dangerous. - [man 3] Oh my goodness.
People were running out onto the freeway. He's got a gun!
[man 5] While officers keep their distance,
there's the concern of keeping other people out of harm's way.
People on the street, on the overheads are holding
"Juice is on the Loose," and have got the "We love you, O.J."
Everybody's got their own signs.
How the hell did these people get pens and paper?
How did they get these big pieces of white cardboard
and make signs that fast?
[Douglas] It was surreal,
going through the streets of Los Angeles
and seeing the crowds on the overpass.
Or seeing people stopped on the freeway as the Bronco drove by.
I didn't understand his celebrity. Why would I? I wasn't tuned into that.
So I didn't understand why there were thousands of people
lined up on the freeway, cheering and chanting for him.
It was totally confusing to me, and I was like, "What is happening?"
[sirens wailing]
[Darden] Whether you gave a crap about O.J. or that case or not,
that scene on the freeway that day,
that fear or concern that he would kill himself
caused people to care.
I really, really, really feel sad. I mean, I actually feel for him.
You can actually see O.J.!
O.J. wasn't one that we would see in the community
taking part in African-American events,
but once he was charged,
we still were able to connect with his circumstance, with his Blackness.
This is LA. It's 1994. It's two years after the riots.
It's two years after police beat Rodney King.
It's after years of being abused by the LAPD.
- [shouting] - [dog barking]
It is regrettable that there had been historical mistrust
between the police and the African-American community.
[man] Civil rights organizations say the Los Angeles Police Department
has a history of brutality and misconduct
that goes back a quarter of a century,
including one incident that sparked the Watts riots.
In the 1990s,
you could probably stop any Black Angelino at random
and he would have a story about someone
who had been mistreated by the police.
[helicopter whirring]
[Darden] We all knew there were racist cops.
Cops who would stand by and do nothing
while a Black man's rights were being violated.
We got to see it, and you can't tell me or anybody that this doesn't exist.
When Rodney King got beaten by those four white cops,
that revealed a schism in Los Angeles that exists to this day.
[somber music playing]
If I went and beat your dog the way they beat this man, I'd be in jail.
[man] The city's police chief said
he will support criminal charges against some of the men.
People didn't think it was fair,
that they should be tried in Simi Valley, in front of an essentially all-white jury.
I perceived that Mr. King was in a full prone position
and then he made an aggressive attack toward Officer Powell.
[male attorney] Tell the jury what happened.
He… I continued to hit him and then knocked him to the ground.
[attorney] Did you find any difficulty with the officer striking him?
No they're… This was perfectly within the LAPD policy and procedures.
[tense music playing]
A lot of people believe those officers were caught red-handed.
Sometimes police work is brutal. That's just a fact of life.
People watched that trial
and were convinced that these officers were guilty.
When they do something, it seems like it's okay, you know, with the law.
As long they got on their blue uniform, it's okay.
Rodney King was, you might say, the straw that broke the camel's back.
You beat a dog, you go to jail.
How many more Rodney Kings does it have to be?
We should have protection and we do not!
Y'all fucking shut up!
[all] Hey, hey, ho, ho. Daryl Gates has got to go.
There was this shared understanding and plight and circumstance
that we could all feel.
[ominous music playing]
[male judge] And the jury has reached verdicts as to all other counts.
[male juror] We, the jury, in the above entitled action
find the defendant Laurence M. Powell not guilty of the crime of assault
by force likely to produce great bodily injury… [fades out]
[dramatic music playing]
They weren't convicted. The evidence is right there.
Once the four white cops were acquitted by an all-white jury in Simi Valley,
it revealed
that race matters.
The City allowed its police department
to do all kinds of things.
Unconstitutional things, unlawful things,
abusive things to members of the Black community.
[crowd chanting]
And minutes later, all hell was breaking loose.
- [indistinct shouting] - [dramatic music playing]
[male reporter] Hundreds and hundreds of people now ripping off merchandise.
[glass shatters]
They're looting another liquor store up on Normandie.
It's a way for people to vent their frustration.
[male reporter] Now they're pulling the driver out.
We're seeing a dark day here in Los Angeles.
You had one of the worst riots in US history.
[crowd shouting indistinctly]
[male reporter] A lot of blood gushing from the man's head.
- [helicopter whirring] - [sirens wailing]
[Douglas] It's in that environment,
it's in that cauldron,
that we were all brought together to defend O.J. Simpson.
He was one of us now.
[male announcer] O.J. gets the call and the Juice breaks loose.
[cheering]
We've been watching Black men be set up and falsely accused.
We all have a story.
When that Bronco went down the 405,
it drug us all in.
All of a sudden, we all have some personal emotional connection
to O.J. Simpson and this case.
[woman] We have O.J.'s first wife, Marguerite, on the telephone right now.
- Marguerite, are you there? - Yes.
I just wanted to say, O.J., we love you, please.
Run, run, nigga, run!
[man] Marguerite, you're urging O.J. to run, to escape?
Go, O.J. Just keep going! Keep going!
Stand up for yours! Just keep going!
[Lange] And I call the DA's office.
"How do we get ahold of this guy?"
He says, "Mobile phone."
I say, "Do you have his number?" "Yeah, I got it right here."
"Give me his number!"
- [dramatic music playing] - [helicopter whirring]
He's not gonna answer the phone, obviously.
[phone ringing]
Rings twice and he picks up.
O.J.?
- Hello? O.J.? - Yeah.
"This is Tom Lange."
"Hey… Yeah…" he says.
He talks like a little… Like he's drawn out,
like he's tired, maybe he's under the influence.
Ah…
- [Lange] Hey. How you doing? - [O.J.] Ah--
[dial tone]
[Lange] O.J. You still there?
All the sudden, I lose him.
So I try it again. "Not gonna pick up." Well, he picks up again.
This happens two more times.
He keeps picking up.
I said, this is good. He wants to talk to somebody.
[Lange] It's Tom again.
[O.J.] I'm here.
[Lange] I've been given now an opportunity to do something that no one else has.
I'm talking directly with the guy with the gun. That's a big deal.
This is not to keep you guys away from me.
- I know that. Nobody's going to hurt you. - This is for me.
It's for you. I know that. But do it for--
This is for me, for me. That's all.
I know that. I know that. But do it for the kids too, will you?
- How? - Think of your kids.
No.
Please, just toss it out. You're scaring everybody, man.
- Ah, I'm not gonna hurt anybody. - I know you're not gonna hurt anybody.
- I did it for me. - I know you're not, man.
I'm just gonna go with me.
Please, you're scaring everybody, though.
- You're scaring everybody. - Just tell them I'm all sorry.
You can tell them later on today and tomorrow that I was sorry and that.
Sorry I did this to the police department.
Listen, I think you should tell them yourself.
This isn't about the murder.
This is about the gun, and only.
I don't care about anything else.
Your kids need you.
I've already said goodbye to my kids.
Listen, no, we're not going to say goodbye to your kids.
- I already have. - You're going to see them again.
You want to see them again.
Please, you're scaring us, you're scaring them.
There's a lot of people that love you. Don't throw it all away.
- Ah… - Don't throw it all away.
He never directly addresses the gun, which is concerning.
I can't take this.
Oh, yes, you can. Yes, you can.
No, I can't.
You got your whole family out here.
- I can't take this. - They love you. Don't throw this away.
- Ah. - Don't do this.
If I can talk him all the way back to his house,
play it out.
They love you.
Don't do it, O.J.
It's going to work itself out.
- Let me get to my house. - We're going to do that.
I swear to you. I'll give you what…
I'll give you me. I'll give you my whole body.
Okay.
I just need to get to my house. I can't live with…
We're gonna do that. Just throw the gun out the window.
[man] As a negotiator and a SWAT officer,
you can be dealing with one of the worst criminals in the world.
[dramatic music playing]
But your responsibility is still to talk that person out.
I was a 22-year member of the LAPD,
18 of which was on the SWAT team.
I was a crisis negotiator.
We are a life-saving device,
whether it's a bad person, good person, hostages.
That's our job, is life-saving.
Finally, they called upon us
and told us to respond to the Rockingham address.
We're racing to get ahead of what we think
is going to be someone hurting themselves
or someone giving themselves up.
[Fuhrman] I get a page.
"Call the station."
Simpson's on the run, traffic is stopped.
They don't know if SWAT can intercept him
before he gets to the Rockingham estate.
"Get Roberts. You guys are going to Rockingham."
Get to the station,
Roberts is already in the parking lot. He's got my vest. We got a shotgun.
We jump in the car, we go to the Rockingham estate.
So where's the house?
It's chaos.
[indistinct chatter and shouting]
No more, no further! Just stay right here!
We get a call. "You got to set up a tactical situation."
"If he gets to you before SWAT shows up, you have to take him down."
I said, "Okay."
[Weireter] We're trying to get to the house.
We were really hustling.
The magnitude hadn't hit me yet.
The immensity of this moment.
The nation was watching.
Who would have thought this could be that big?
[woman 1] District Attorney of Los Angeles, Mr. Gil Garcetti.
Will the fact that he has fled make things worse for him?
Any time you have an accused who leaves,
we believe shows a consciousness of guilt.
[man 1] Now the car appears to be moving over
toward the slow lanes or the exit lane.
Now we're slowing down, getting closer to Sunset.
[woman 2] This is Sunset. The vehicle is exiting.
You can see cars pulled to the side.
- [man 2] It passed 25 yards in front. - [woman 1] What was that?
This is just ABC network live coverage?
- Yeah. - [woman 1] Okay.
CBS is trying to get it.
[indistinct background chatter]
- [sirens wailing] - [dramatic music playing]
[indistinct shouting]
[woman 1] They've been cheering him on, yelling "Go, Juice!"
Chewing… Cheering him on?
[male reporter] He pulled off at Sunset, off the 405.
He's on his way back toward Brentwood.
[Lange] Think about everybody else.
I can't do it here on the freeway. I couldn't do it in a field.
I went to do it at her grave. I want to do it at my house.
You're not going to do anything.
Too many people love you.
Your kids, your mother, your friends, A.C., everybody.
You've got the whole world. Don't throw it away.
- [sirens wailing] - [music stops]
Don't throw it away, man. Come on.
When Simpson got close, they were trying to keep tabs.
"Okay. He's on this road. Okay, he's three mikes from you."
[male reporter] Shortly, we are going to be coming up on Rockingham.
And that is Mr. Simpson's home.
[tense music playing]
He's heading to my house.
I followed the procession.
Exited off of the 405, on to Sunset Boulevard.
Got down by where he turned in to go to Rockingham
and it was just a dead stop.
So I pulled into… somebody's house
and I just parked in their driveway.
You're listening to me and you're thinking. I know you're thinking.
- Oh. - You're tired too, aren't you?
- I am so tired. - I know. I know.
I just want to be with Nicole.
You don't need to be with Nicole.
You need to be with your family and with your kids.
[Lange] "Think about your kids," is what I tell him.
"It's gonna be better, we can work this out," type of stuff.
"You got to get rid of the gun."
We could actually hear the helicopters coming.
- [helicopters whirring] - [sirens wailing]
At some point, cars coming.
[sirens wailing]
We were zigzagging through people,
trying to get through this motorcade of SWAT vehicles.
[indistinct chatter]
There was just… hundreds and hundreds of people,
and they were getting in the way.
[male reporter] He's making a right turn. I assume up into Brentwood Park
and appears to be on the way to, uh… either his home or very close to his home.
[man] Fuck the police, yeah, fuck 'em!
[indistinct chatter]
[sirens wailing]
Just at the last second…
[man] SWAT team.
Back me up.
…SWAT rolls up, they come in the gate.
One of the SWAT members, he just goes, "We got it, Mark."
And we got on the other side of the brick wall.
I have to calculate, where will the car stop?
How are we going to do this?
And we're all brainstorming as fast as possible.
Most times I negotiate, I would change into street clothes
and not wear a uniform.
I didn't have time.
So it was a hurry-up offense.
[sirens wailing]
The SWAT comes in, and then the Bronco shows up.
It was like a ballet.
We're gonna let you go home. Let you pull right inside.
All we need to see is that gun come out the window.
- I'm not gonna point it at anyone. - I know that, man! I know that.
But you're scaring them anyway.
I'm not gonna point it at anyone.
Use your own discretion. You take him down if you have to.
Our plan had been, once he came in,
we would shut the gate behind him, and he was trapped in there.
The Bronco pulled into Rockingham.
We were ready to go.
And then everything changed right in front of our faces.
[Lange] A.C. stops in the driveway.
The snipers are looking at the Bronco.
Please don't get out with a gun.
Juice, just toss the gun.
[man shouting indistinctly]
All right, just…
Who is that out there?
[woman] Uh-oh.
[male reporter] Somebody's gone up. Do not know who that person is.
I thought it was a person from the crowd.
[reporter] Officers are walking up to the vehicle, carrying somebody away.
I didn't know that was his son.
[reporter] Carrying somebody…
We extracted him. Pulled him into the house.
[reporter] Officers are walking up to the Bronco.
There's an Orange County Sheriff car pulled in behind him, running its siren.
And, at the same time, we're trying to stop that officer who gets out
and he's possibly gonna go up to the car.
[sirens wailing]
You had other officers outside trying to keep the crowd back
and keep the street clear.
[tense music builds]
There was probably in excess of 15 helicopters in the air,
and it's very difficult to try to give direction to anybody.
[man on scene] It's total chaos here.
The entire world is focused on you.
A little bit of added pressure there.
You try and say, "Okay, block all this out,
it's time to get to work."
[dramatic music plays]
He waits in the car for several minutes… and we don't know what's going on.
I'm yelling at the phone. He's not answering.
[Cowlings] O.J., I beg you.
[Lange] Juice!
- [Cowlings] Don't do it, O.J.! - Juice! Come on!
Juice!
[Cowlings] Listen to me! Listen to me, O.J. Listen!
[Lange] Juice! I'm still here!
Juice!
I beg you, man. O.J., no! No, O.J.!
O.J.! Listen to him!
I walked over and got to the barricades,
and at that point, they were saying that there was snipers. That SWAT was there.
And that if O.J. got out of the Bronco with the gun, they'd shoot him.
So I went up to the barricade where the police officers were.
I said, "Look, my name is Mike Gilbert. I'm O.J. Simpson's agent."
"I can get him out of the Bronco."
They said, "Absolutely not."
And so I told all the cops at the barricade, I said,
"You think LA got burned down because of Rodney King?"
"You shoot O.J. fucking Simpson… and they're gonna burn everything down."
[indistinct shouting]
[crowd chanting] Free O.J.! Free O.J.! Free O.J.!
[Weireter] Al Cowlings starts jumping in and out of the car. He wants to talk.
And he was begging us not to hurt his friend.
And that his friend wouldn't hurt anybody.
[male reporter 1] He's quite upset at the moment.
[male reporter 2] Emotional.
[Weireter] What I really need to do is get him out of the way
so I can speak directly to Mr. Simpson.
We finally convinced Al Cowlings to come in to us and talk to us.
I'm yelling, "I'm gonna call you on the phone."
"This is who you're gonna be speaking to." And I showed myself.
As you look around the foyer,
there's a statue of O.J.'s Heisman in the middle of the room.
You can't help but notice it.
And all the pictures are celebrities and him.
Everything is him.
And I just thought, well, if we appeal to his ego and that narcissism,
this might be a way in.
The sun is going down in the west.
It's getting dark.
[music intensifies]
[phone ringing and beeping]
I dialed him up and was talking to him. Mostly I listened. I just kept listening.
He was apologizing for causing this commotion.
Had mentioned his children,
and I said, "You can't let the children have another tragedy in their lives."
And he just went right back to himself. He didn't want to talk about that.
He was also commenting that,
"I can't believe how many people are all over the place."
As we started to talk more about the surrender process,
I think it got through to him that,
"I can look good here if I do this just right."
- [man] Yes. - [woman] We may have something.
[man] Okay.
I tried to convince him that he could really save face
if he came out and walked to us.
He would be able to stand tall and show the world on TV.
I said, "I'll shake your hand, okay, and then we'll go in the house."
"You can't come out of the car with anything. We don't want confusion here."
"We don't want somebody thinking you're armed. So leave it in the car."
If somebody comes out with a gun…
They're gonna shoot him. Simple.
That's the way it works.
- [reporter] Movement on the ground. - [officer] Code 4.
[Weireter] He started to get out,
and I said, "Wait a minute, what's he got in his hand?"
I said, "Put it down. Whatever you have, put it down."
Then I realized it was a picture of Nicole with a metal frame.
He walked over to me, and that was when I arrested him.
[male reporter 1] O.J. is in custody. We understand O.J. is in custody.
[male reporter 2] O.J. Simpson has surrendered.
Fortunately, it ended peacefully.
O.J. Simpson is in custody.
[Lange] So now we've got him.
Relief.
Everybody's safe. Nobody got shot.
They're gonna bring him back to us.
[Weireter] We let him into the house completely
and sat him down on the couch.
I promised him that he could speak to his mother.
It got overwhelmed with people into that room.
His lawyers came in the room, some high-up police officials.
He's sitting there and I said,
"I'm sorry, but he should be in handcuffs right now."
"Why are we doing this?"
So he was handcuffed.
We made the decision to basically motorcade down to Parker Center
and book him into our facility.
We had to get the gates open, get the vehicles in position.
They knew something was gonna happen. So the media and the crowds are moving.
[dramatic music playing]
[crowd shouting indistinctly]
The minute we pulled out, people started pouring out of the bushes.
They were approaching the car.
And we were riding in the car, and O.J. said,
"What are all these N-words doing in Brentwood?"
We were a little bit shocked.
I waited at the barricade when they did arrest O.J.
He was in between the two officers in the back seat of the car.
He was five or six feet away.
As the car went by, he didn't see me, but I saw him.
And looking at his face, uh, was
heartbreaking because he was so… drained.
There was nothing there.
That "it" factor, that thing was gone.
My dad and I both absolutely wanted it to end peacefully
because we wanted to go to court.
We figured that was the only way we were gonna find the truth.
I'm thinking, jeez, now somebody's got to try the son of a bitch.
A lot of activity around the Brentwood home.
Here, as you can see behind me,
Robert Shapiro, the attorney of O.J. Simpson,
coming down to give some kind of live press conference.
I would also, at this point in time,
like to ask all members of the public
to please reserve any judgment on this case
until the evidence is reviewed and presented in a court of law.
With all of the questions about the public symphony… sympathy for Mr. Simpson,
we should not forget the fact
that we have two victims who were brutally slain.
We searched the Bronco itself.
And we found $8,000 in cash,
a gun, his passport,
his mobile phone, a disguise kit.
[Weireter] I had to take him to Parker Center, to our jail,
book him in.
O.J. Simpson, in police custody, in Los Angeles.
Two counts of murder.
[music stops]
[gentle music playing]
[crowd shouting indistinctly]
[male reporter] Okay, here we go.
He just went into the Spring Street entrance.
He's going up to the 11th floor of the criminal courthouse to…
for the arraignment this morning.
Are you ready to go forward with the arraignment at this time?
- Yes, Your Honor. - All right.
- Want Mr. Simpson to stand, Your Honor? - Please.
Mr. Orenthal Simpson, is that your true name, sir?
Please speak up so you may be heard.
Uh, yes.
Pardon me, I'm sorry.
- May we start all over? - Yes.
Nobody really beats murder cases.
Not really.
You committed a crime of murder in violation of Penal Code section 187(a).
And that he did willfully and unlawfully and with malice and forethought
murder Nicole Brown Simpson.
The evidence is starting to tell a story that can only be one of two things.
That you were present at the scene
and you were trying to defend Nicole and Ron
or you were the suspect.
But you participated in what took place there
to actually acquire all the blood, including your own.
And how did you cut your finger?
…that he did personally use a deadly and dangerous weapon, a knife.
He's your guy.
[mysterious music playing]
Bob Shapiro, in those days,
was known as a celebrity lawyer.
And we criminal lawyers kind of looked down on celebrity lawyers
because they were known more as fixers
than lawyers who were in the trenches doing the hard work.
And have you discussed those charges with your lawyers?
- Yes. - Yes.
At this time, do you wish to enter a plea, guilty or not guilty?
- Not guilty. - Not guilty.
Typically, you expect something like this to come to trial in a couple of years.
Your Honor, at this time,
we would request under the law that we have
a hearing as soon as possible,
and certainly within the next ten days as provided by law.
Everything was moving quick,
and Shapiro consciously chose
not to waive time… and to ask for a speedy trial.
I think the prosecution expected the defense to delay,
and they did the opposite.
Making everything happen fast,
because when you do things quickly, you make mistakes.
They knew it would take a long time to process the evidence in this case.
They pushed forward, asserted his right to speedy trial,
and when they did that, they really put the prosecution in a difficult position.
It was brilliant strategy by Bob Shapiro.
I'll give him credit for that.
But it was clear Bob Shapiro had not developed
a reputation as a trial dog, if you will.
Bob Shapiro had not had a collection of experience trying murder cases.
It was clear that Johnnie Cochran did.
Shapiro was more of a negotiator.
Johnnie was a trial attorney.
This tragedy has to be stopped at some point.
He was originally the first choice.
He was always going to be added.
We talked with O.J.'s people
and then we talked with Bob Shapiro.
And together, an understanding was reached
that we would be working together.
- [dramatic music] - [indistinct chatter]
[Shapiro] He'll be part of the team and participate equally with everybody else.
Being an African-American lawyer, being an African-American client,
we thought that would be a natural, understandable connection.
Everyone looked up to Johnnie
because he stood firm against injustices involving the police.
[Darden] He was a civil rights attorney.
He was respected.
There was a lot of talk that O.J. Simpson
wasn't very connected to the Black community.
So now he has this lawyer who is very much a part of that community.
Cochran provided a kind of respect for O.J.
that O.J. could never have gotten himself.
Cochran gave O.J. Simpson value.
[tense music playing]
O.J. had the financial wherewithal
to combat the awesome power of the State with his own funds.
He said, "I'm smart enough to know I'm not the smartest man in the room."
"I hire the smartest people in the room."
As much as I admired Cochran,
I admired the complete assembly of lawyers even more.
He had the greatest collection of talent that had ever been assembled.
F. Lee Bailey, one of my personal heroes.
Later, Alan Dershowitz and his entire class at Harvard.
[Douglas] There was Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld
who were DNA experts from New York.
I would say 16 or 17 people were involved in helping to defend O.J. Simpson.
He was positioned in a way that was unlike anything that I had ever seen.
O.J., being an athlete,
looks at everything through sports analogies.
He would say, "You're the quarterback, he's the running back…
make the hole, y'all working together."
[male reporter] His lawyers were often referred to as the Dream Team.
We're the dream team. We're number one. Come on!
Prosecution ain't got nothing on us.
- We're the best. - That's right. We're bad.
[Douglas] Before Johnnie Cochran was involved in the case,
he was commenting about the mountain of evidence
that was being introduced against O.J. Simpson.
I think it's significant, but I think it can be obviously explained.
And how it might appear that perhaps he was responsible
for the death of these two people.
A bloody trail from the bodies to the back carport and then his car.
The Bronco's at his house with blood on the outside and on the inside,
then a blood trail up the driveway.
The killer having a cut on his or her hand.
And, you know, this all comes together and kind of fits.
We nicknamed this the turkey on a platter.
Here it is. It's all there.
It's almost too much.
O.J. Simpson was a unique circumstance, man.
It was a case where there was more evidence than I had ever seen in my life.
I analogized it to… a big-ass bowl of spaghetti.
You're given a big bowl of spaghetti to eat.
And you start eating that big-ass bowl of spaghetti,
and all of a sudden, as you're eating,
you come across a roach in that spaghetti.
What?
There's a roach in this big-ass bowl of spaghetti.
Now, do you continue eating that spaghetti?
Or do you throw out the entire bowl
because the spaghetti has now been tainted?
[tense, dramatic music playing]
[music fades out]