with Joe Cortese

OJ Bronco Chase: Where Were You?

There are some key moments in our nation’s history that we all instantly remember: where we were, what we were doing, who we were with, how we felt.

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

The Challenger space shuttle explosion.

And, on this day in 1994, the slow-speed police chase through Los Angeles involving OJ Simpson.

OJ was a former football great, a Heisman Trophy winner, and actor when his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were violently stabbed to death on June 12, 1994.

Police turned their attention to Simpson after learning the couple was estranged and had a history of domestic violence. Five days later, police charged Simpson with the murders and he was expected to turn himself in. He did not, and was spotted in a white Ford Bronco driven by his friend, Al Cowlings. Simpson was in the back seat with a gun to his head as Cowlings drove slowly through Los Angeles, with police right behind him.

TV networks broke into regular programming to carry it live. About 95 million people watched the drama unfold over the next two hours. It ended when the Bronco drove back to Simpson’s home, where he was arrested.

Simpson was then tried and found not guilty of the murders in criminal court. He was found liable for the deaths in civil court. He was later arrested in 2007 for armed robbery and served 9 years in prison and was released in 2017. He died April 10, 2024, after battling cancer at the age of 76.

Where were you during the white Bronco chase? Do you remember watching it? Tell us here! 

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