30 years ago, Detective Tom Lange helped save the life of O.J. Simpson
The audio of the Bronco chase foils allegations of "a police conspiracy"
Let’s be clear. . . . O.J. Simpson was guilty of the June 1994 double murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. He did it, and he did it alone.
Bet it. Book it. Take it to the bank.
The problem was that Simpson’s defense team skillfully and successfully manipulated the proven racist behavior of junior detective Mark Fuhrman—along with an inflated view of his minimal role in the police investigation—and used all this to concoct a police conspiracy against Simpson.
Of all the things that reeked of Fuhrman’s guilt, he was innocent of planting incriminating evidence against Simpson on the night of the killings. Regardless, O.J.’s attorneys cynically turned the tables on the prosecution and put the LAPD on trial.
Primarily because of Fuhrman’s bad behavior and dishonesty—for which he was later convicted of perjury—the defense attorneys, aka “The Dream Team,” helped the jurors to fall in love with a murderous perpetrator and then to acquit him on October 3, 1995—because a racist cop had repeatedly lied to them on the witness stand.
Like it or not, under these circumstances, the controversial jury verdict in the criminal case, based on the defense team’s evolving storyline, was understandable and perhaps even justified.
If Fuhrman had entered the trial with clear intent to sabotage the proceedings, he could not have inflicted more damage on the prosecution than he did unintentionally.
However, LAPD lead detective Tom Lange’s dramatic attempt to save Simpson during the infamous slow-speed Bronco chase illustrates that there was no police conspiracy against Simpson.
Above is the video of the chase, five days after the murders—with the accompanying audio of Tom’s haunting exchanges with Simpson. (BTW: I was the source who leaked the audio tape to CNN in 1996.)
Many of us are proud of Tom for the professional and compassionate manner in which he handled this deadly situation. He saved Simpson’s life—while Simpson held a gun to his own head, threatening to commit suicide.
Sadly, that tape did not become part of the prosecution’s case.
Simpson died yesterday on April 10, 2024—two months before the 30th anniversary of the killings on June 12, 1994.
On February 4, 1997, a jury in the Brown and Goldman families’ civil litigation against Simpson, found O.J. liable for the two murders and awarded the plaintiffs $33.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
I co-authored the definitive book about these killings—Evidence Dismissed: The Inside Story of the Police Investigation of O.J. Simpson—with Tom Lange and his partner, Philip Vannatter, two honorable men and outstanding police investigators.