It was a warm & muggy Friday evening and I had just returned to my apartment in the West Village after completing a 5-mile run along the Hudson River. Before showering I turned on the TV to check the score of the NBA Finals game between the Knicks & Houston Rockets, but instead what appeared on the screen was a white SUV speeding along a highway. I soon learned that the white Bronco was carrying OJ Simpson on LA’s 405 freeway and it was being pursued by a phalanx of LAPD police cruisers. Seems OJ didn't show up to turn himself in as agreed (he was the prime suspect in the murder of his wife & her male friend earlier that week) and was now in the back of the vehicle holding a gun to his head threatening to shoot himself. The chase was so mesmerizing I couldn’t pull myself away to take a shower or even go to the grocery store to get dinner. I watched for at least 2 hours waiting for the moment when, befitting this perfect Greek tragedy, OJ was going to end it all. What sticks with me was the circus-like atmosphere as cars pulled over on the freeway and crowds lined the road and overpasses cheering (or jeering) as he drove by. And when the Bronco finally pulled into the driveway of OJ’s home another weird thing happened. An eyewitness claiming to be across the street from OJ’s house was interviewed on the phone by ABC News’ Peter Jennings but he turned out to be a crank caller who made an inane comment about his allegiance to Howard Stern.
Fast forward 16 months to October 3,1995, the day of the verdict in OJ’s murder trial. I was eating lunch in my office (at ad agency Foote, Cone & Belding) and turned on the radio to hear live coverage of the jury’s verdict. I had decided not to watch the coverage on TV in the conference room with others because I didn’t want to see which co-workers might be happy if he was found innocent of the charges. When I heard the not-guilty verdict I got up and closed the door to my office and sat for a while with my eyes closed trying to process the jury's decision before continuing with the rest of my day.
