Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 18, 1994 TAG: 9406200117
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune and The Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Long
The chase ended about 10:50 EDT when the Bronco - driven by Al Cowlings, a former teammate of Simpson - finally pulled into Simpson's driveway.
As tense moments passed, it became apparent that Cowlings was trying to negotiate some settlement with Simpson in the vehicle and police who surrounded it. Simpson's lawyer arrived at the mansion nearly an hour later and the arrest came minutes later.
As Simpson arrived at police headquarters, his mother was reported hospitalized in stable condition at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco for an undisclosed reason.
Police Cmdr. David Gascon said Simpson would be booked, fingerprinted and photographed, then taken to the main county jail.
Cowlings was booked for investigation of aiding and abetting a fugitive, a felony, and taken to jail in lieu of $250,000 bail, Gascon said.
Before fleeing as he was about to be arrested, Simpson left a handwritten letter proclaiming his innocence, saying goodbye to friends and making ``a last wish'' to ``leave my children in peace.''
The standoff marked the climax of an extraordinary day that saw first the announcement that Simpson would be charged with murder, then word that he had fled arrest and finally the surreal televised image of dozens of police cars trailing a white Ford Bronco as it rolled slowly along emptied freeways.
As much of the final act played out live on national television, Simpson rode in the passenger seat of the Bronco driven by Cowlings.
``He demanded that he would not give himself up,'' said Carl Williams, who was monitoring police scanners for KCBS television. ``He's in the back of the vehicle. He has a gun to his head and he will hurt himself. He is demanding to be taken to his mother.''
Simpson had disappeared sometime before noon. Police had notified his lawyer they planned to arrest him for the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, 35, his ex-wife, and Ronald Lyle Goldman, 25.
In his letter, addressed "to whom it may concern," Simpson contended he was innocent of murder, but declared: ``I can't go on.
``Everyone understands I had nothing to do with Nicole's murder,'' Simpson wrote. ``I loved her.
``I think of my life and feel I've done most of the right things. So why do I end up like this. I can't go on. No matter what the outcome, people will look and point. I can't take that. I can't subject my children to that.''
The letter ends: ``Don't feel sorry for me. I've had a great life, great friends. Please think of the real O.J. and not this lost person. Thanks for making my life special. I hope I helped yours. Peace and love. O.J.''
Simpson's lawyer, Robert Shapiro, told reporters Friday night that Simpson, 46, had been in ``a very, very frail, fragile emotional state'' over the past several days. ``We were concerned by the potential for suicide.''
Angered and embarrassed police had by then issued an all-points bulletin for the fugitive, who only Thursday had attended with his children the funeral of Nicole Simpson and exchanged hugs with his ex-wife's relatives.
``I'm very confident that we're going to find O.J. Simpson because this is a man who can't hide too easily,'' District Attorney Gil Garcetti said. ``His face is known throughout the world.''
Simpson was charged with stabbing to death Nicole Simpson and Goldman, a waiter and acquaintance who had gone to her house Sunday evening to return glasses she had left at a restaurant. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.
According to Shapiro, Simpson spent Thursday night at the San Fernando Valley residence of Robert Kardashian, a close friend. Shapiro said police notified him at 8:30 a.m. Friday of the warrant against Simpson. He agreed Simpson would turn himself in at 11 a.m., he said.
The lawyer said he went to Kardashian's home at 9:30 a.m. and woke Simpson, who had been sedated, with the news of his impending arrest.
Simpson said he needed time to write letters to his children and his mother. He also wanted to meet with a psychiatrist, a doctor and two forensic experts, who came to the house Friday morning, Shapiro said. Cowlings also was there, Shapiro said.
The 11 a.m. deadline came and went without Simpson leaving to turn himself in, Shapiro said. Police called several times, and finally, at noon, announced they were coming to arrest Simpson, he said.
When they arrived, Simpson and Cowlings were gone.
The murder weapon was ``a substantial knife,'' Garcetti said at a news conference Friday. He said the knife had not been found.
Simpson, who had been under increasing suspicion since the bodies were found, was charged Friday morning with two counts of murder under ``special circumstances,'' because two people were killed. That allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty, although Garcetti said that decision would not be made until after a trial.
by CNB