Motorists wave as police cars pursue the Ford Bronco carrying fugitive and murder suspect O.J Simpson on a 90 minutes chase on Los Angeles freeway on June 17, 1994. The car driven by Simpson’s friend Al Cowling eventually drove to Simpson home in Brentwood where he surrendered after a stand-off with police. Simpson has died at the age of 76, his family said on April 11, 2024. Image: MIKE NELSON / AFPMotorists wave as police cars pursue the Ford Bronco carrying fugitive and murder suspect O.
“We were all huddled around and watching, no one was breathing – we just stood there in complete awe and fascination,” recalled Kim Goldman, in a 2019 podcast marking the 25th anniversary of the chase. Simpson was later found liable for the deaths in a 1997 civil suit and ordered to pay damages to Goldman’s family totaling $33.5 million. The majority of that remained unpaid.Simpson maintained his innocence and always denied he was trying to flee during the famous Bronco chase, even though he ignored a police deadline to turn himself in.
For Geoffrey Alpert, a professor at University of South Carolina who studies police chases, Simpson’s celebrity heightened a deep-rooted fascination with the idea of a dangerous pursuit. “It goes back to the days of horseback riding when someone would rob a bank and the sheriff would jump on his horse and chase him.”