All language subtitles for O.J. Made in America - 01x02 - Part 2.WEB-DL.x264-eSc.English.C.updated.Addic7ed.com

For the last couple of years

I've gotten very busy on the off season.

Mainly, because early in my career...

I had those rough years in Buffalo.

I sort of told myself then

I would, uh, put my energies
in something that was gonna

sustain me and last.

I knew then that I would
have trouble adjusting

to not being a football player.

So, I said,

"Hey, I better start
preparing myself for... for...

for, you know... now.

I wanna tell you that over the years

I've heard your applause,
and I appreciated your cheers.

And I want you to know

that I already know it's
what I'm gonna miss most.

Thank you all, very much.

Growing up in Brentwood was
really a wonderful experience.

It's very quiet.

It's very affluent.

Very safe.

Very white.

Burglaries were very rare.

Violent crime almost nonexistent.

You could leave your door unlocked.

Never have to worry about anything.

I graduated the academy in 1975.

And then transferred to West L.A. 1978-79.

West L.A., the whole division,
Bel Air, Brentwood, all...

it's loaded with stars.

And I'd sit back and go,

"Man, am I really getting
paid for doing this?"

When I first got there,
O.J. had just moved

from around Mulholland over to Rockingham.

O.J. Simpson living in
Brentwood was really an anomaly.

He'd be one of maybe three black people

in the entire community.

Los Angeles is unlike other places.

If you're a celebrity, you have no color.

People enjoy having you
in their neighborhood.

Especially if you're a celebrity like O.J.

where everyone's husband
worshipped him as a sports hero

and couldn't wait to shake hands.

Once I found out he was
living on Rockingham,

I decided I'd go by there,
you know, and let him know...

"Hey, you know? O.J., I'm here."

This is where I work.

O.J. was great.

He'd always referred to the
LAPD as "the boys." You know?

"How's crime today?"

"Hey, Shipp, what's
going on in my area, man?"

"Is you keeping the peace?"

You know, stuff like that?

And I'd be like, "Hey,
man, everything's good."

70-80 percent of the people
in the city of Los Angeles,

were thinking LAPD does a great
job, we don't have crime here.

They thought out in the
Valley or West Los Angeles,

"Hey, man, they're great."
They smile. They wave.

They're always around when you need them.

Well, that wasn't how other parts
of the city were being treated.

On January 3rd, 1979,

two members of the Los
Angeles Police Department

shot and killed Eulia Love at her home,

in a dispute over $22.09 utility bill.

She died on her front lawn

before the eyes of her own children.

There is no single event that
had a more profound impact

in LAPD history up to that point and time

than the shooting of Eulia May Love.

This is where Mrs. Eulia Love stood
the day the shooting took place.

There was an officer
here, an officer there.

She held a knife in her
hand, there was a scuffle,

the knife was knocked out of her hand,

she reached for it, and as she threw it,

the officers opened fire.

This was a big deal.

This is a woman who's had a tough time.

And she was desperate.

So, there was a lot of
empathy going out to her

from the community.

Once again, we have a member
of the black community...

dead...

under circumstances that are
highly questionable at best.

It has been determined that the evidence

does not warrant the
filing of criminal charges.

This was a justifiable homicide,

uh, committed by the officers
in their own self-defense.

As far as LAPD was concerned,
it was just an event.

And everybody was supposed to accept it.

This was on the lips and minds
of everybody in the community.

The people gonna get justice,
and it's gonna be in the street.

It didn't help that
you had a police chief,

who behaved poorly,

and, in many ways, irresponsibly.

And I've commented on the media
squeezing out the last, uh...

tear of emotion in this situation,

where they talk about a $22 gas bill.

It doesn't make any
difference, but it was, uh...

a $69 gas bill.

Gates was Gates.

He's going to be fully
supportive of his officers.

I guess they don't think I
have any sympathy for anyone,

other than police officers,
and that's simply not true.

I have great empathy and sympathy
for Eulia Love and her family.

Deeply sorry that it
happened, but it did happen.

I...

was a big fan of Daryl...

Francis Gates.

Gates introduced the SWAT
model of law enforcement,

introduced the D.A.R.E. program
to all of law enforcement.

So he was an innovator.

But he was also a controversial guy.

We have officers out there doing the job.

Attempting to make good judgment
based on the information they have,

protecting themselves and protecting

the people of the city of Los Angeles,

that we will go to hell for.

He loved LAPD. He loved his officers.

And there were times that I believe
that his love for his officers...

and the law enforcement mission...

conflicted.

O.J. Simpson and Elizabeth Montgomery

are two police detectives
who have a problem.

They're falling in love, and
it's breaking all the rules.

But you are a married man,

and your conduct is
supposed to be exemplary.

Would it make any difference
if I was a white cop?

It's a bittersweet story
of two people caught between

their emotions and their actions

in "A Killing Affair".

Sunday at 3:00 on channel 9.

Life for a black person...

in a way, unfortunately,

is different than for white people.

And especially for black
people who attain great success.

Is there pressure from your community

for you to really walk
the straight and narrow?

I know that you are currently
dating a white woman.

I wouldn't be asking this question
if we were living in different times,

but we are, and there seems to be...

this sort of dichotomy here.

How do you answer it?

Well, I rebel against images because...

then, um...

you know, people tend to
expect things from you.

I... I think I created
an image by being me.

When I get into these arguments with...

people of the bla...
people of my community,

the black community,

I say, "Hey, I... I've
accepted Jesus Christ"

and, uh, I try to do unto others as, uh...

you know, I would have them do unto me.

And after that, hey, my life is mine.

And I... I do what is morally
right and acceptable to me.

I am not prejudiced in any form.

Obviously, I got a white girlfriend.

I admired his celebrity status.

We thought he had
accomplished quite a bit.

To move from an athlete...

to... a position of celebrity,

and loved by all the
people, not just black folk.

I invited O.J. here, early on in the '80s.

He didn't come as often
as I thought he should.

But he did come to church.

I think he was very in tune with...

who his mother wanted him to be.

She wanted him to be
honest, to be religious.

Just to rise above a lot of the things

that he saw growing up.

His mother was a staunch Christian.

And she had embedded within
him the tenants of Jesus Christ.

I would talk to him about
having achieved money and fame.

But all that came from God.

And there are times when you should...

respond to how good God has been to you.

Now, some days, depending on his mood,

he would agree.

But he was not out there...

publically...

fighting for African-Americans.

I think each person
who is in the limelight

has an obligation...

to make things better for
the last, the lost, the least,

the left out, and the looked over.

And I thought he should have done more.

If we, as Black people, do not
take on the responsibility...

to do something for ourselves,

we really should be scorned
in the eyes of the world.

In my circles, there
were not a lot of people

who were preoccupying
themselves with getting to O.J.

or believing that O.J.
could be turned around,

or someday was gonna come to his senses

and embrace all of the things
that have the values that we had,

in terms of really, really

doing something demonstrative
for the Black community.

O.J. was just one of those things

that you just kind of dismissed,
"Oh, that brother's a lost cause."

His voice was mute...

on any issues that related to
Black people and our salvation,

police brutality, all of those things.

He was just a non-entity.

I don't know that he felt
that he was sacrificing

what other people thought he was.

But you're sacrificing who you are...

who you are raised to be.

How does one sustain that
over that period of time?

How does one bend one's soul
to that degree of denial?

It's easy to tell while
laid out on the ground,

while he's bleeding to death.

Is that what makes you happy?

Did you hear? Did you
see what was going on?

Did he see everything
happening in South Central?

Yeah.

Did he want to take that home with him?

Did he want that to be who he was?

Who he identified with? No.

He stayed in Brentwood.

When you live in South L.A.,

I mean you live here,

this is where you breath,

this is where you occupy your space,

I'm not sure if, you know,
a lot of people even know

where Brentwood is.

That's just the reality...

of Black America and White America.

Two totally... separate worlds.

He's somebody who
learned how to live with,

be totally accepted by a white world.

Underneath that,

he learned all of the
indignities of the Black world.

Although it's impossible to believe
that he's that brilliant an actor.

I think he was always kind of
on when he was in a White world,

and he weren't when he
was in a Black world.

Which makes him the right
soul for Coalhouse Walker.

He very much wanted to be cast
in E.L. Doctorow's "Ragtime".

And he worked hard on
trying to get that part.

He saw the part as being

something that he could go into
a new dimension as an actor.

Let's go to your acting
career for a moment.

Why did you want the role
of Coalhouse Walker Jr.?

Well, first of all, it, um...

it was the only part thus
far that I've ever actively

went after and didn't get.

So, I'd consider it my
only failure in film.

Thus far.

Good afternoon.

I wonder if you might be able to help me.

Uh...

Uh... what do you want?

Well, I'm looking for a young
woman of color called Sarah.

Uh... who are you?

Oh, I'm sorry.

My name is Coalhouse Walker Jr.

When I read the book, I could
identify with this guy...

so much... He was a
Black man in... at a time

when you were supposed
to know you were Black.

You were supposed to know you had a place.

Would you please wait around the back?

I was raised in the sports world

where you're only, uh,
judged by your abilities...

and, uh, you know, what you have to give.

Who is Coalhouse?

Well, he's a guy who created himself.

And destroyed himself... ultimately.

He was a guy among other things
who was very prideful and suffered.

Suffered for his pride.

Mr. Walker, let me give you some advice.

You spend the money on your wedding.

Build yourself a home and a family
where you can find some comfort.

And just forget that some damn
white man caused you offence.

I can understand exactly what he felt.

When he walked in a room,

he gave no credence to
the fact he was Black

and he wasn't supposed to say
things or be treated any differently.

And, uh...

Uh.. that's the way I've
tried to look at my life.

So, I felt I was the
right person for that role.

I felt that I was
today's Coalhouse Walker.

"Just forget it"? Is that it?

I've spent my whole life forgetting.

You're a young man. You
better start learning now.

Learning what?

How to be a nigger?

You know, there was some
tragedy in your life...

in the last 10 years. You lost a child.

I wanna talk about how it changed you.

The baby drowned in a swimming pool.

On Rockingham, there.

He was away.

You know, he was always gone.

Four, set!

I don't know how much it changed me.

I've always tried to live
my life to the fullest.

And, uh...

I used to be so busy.

And I was on the road so much,

that in a sense it
partially cost me a marriage.

When I lost my daughter...

I was gone.

When my first daughter
was born, I was gone.

When you lose a child, it's very hard.

Three weeks before Aaren
drowned, my son drowned...

in a pool, that Boys Club
in San Leandro, California.

So, the tragedy affected us both.

It still affects me. So, I
know... how it affects him.

He didn't bring it up, and
we didn't talk much about it.

Hey, O.J.!

I think it's the single most
horrible thing in the world.

I think what you learn in the streets,

is how to bury things.

And he blamed Marguerite.

He got rid of that memory
when he got rid of that wife.

He just compartmentalized it.

And got 'em out.

If anything, I made up my
mind that I would be around.

And, uh...

it's nice to be loved by everybody.

But there's some people
that love you a little more.

So, I guess if anything,

I... I just want to
be a little more loving

and be there a little more
to the people that have, uh,

have chosen to share their lives with me.

And now by the...

authority committed unto me

as a minister in the
church of Jesus Christ

and according to the laws
in the State of California,

it gives me great
delight, O.J. and Nicole,

to pronounce you husband and wife.

We love "Juice" like my brother.

I'm thrilled he's my
partner, and we're just...

totally knocked out that
he finally took the step...

They had a great wedding.

Of course, they had amazing music.

And it was all, you
know, Christal champagne,

all you could drink.

Where are the drugs? No, I'm just kidding.

It was a great party.

And they made a really
strong, gorgeous couple.

I just felt that they
were the ideal couple.

Because it seems like
to me, from what I saw,

it seemed like they just
had so much fun all the time.

I'm married! I don't believe it!

I'm married! I really don't believe it.

Nicole was funny, and
she was fun to be around.

She was a very good friend.

When Nicole came into my life at...

what for any athlete
is very difficult time,

it was at the end of my career,

I was also going through a
divorce at the time and, uh...

All my life, I wanted to be a father.

I never really thought
about being a husband.

And I thought I had given up...

the opportunity to watch my kids grow

until you came into my life
and made this house a home,

brought my kids in.

You brought love into my house.

He was really proud of her.

And she had definitely taken over.

I mean, she was running
the show at Rockingham.

Rockingham, it was his Graceland.

It was all of their Graceland.

We never said, "I'll
meet you at O.J.'s house."

It was always, "I'll
see you at Rockingham."

It was what brought all of us together.

It was a special place.

I mean, you never knew
who was gonna be there.

He gravitated toward celebrities.

In any field.

And that's the glue that
bonded him to Los Angeles,

and also made Rockingham that castle.

You'd have the greatest
athletes in the world show up.

The most interesting
politicians, you know?

The entertainment world.

And everybody always had a wonderful time

because it was "The Juice".

I've always had a large
what I call "family"...

A large circle of friends,

and you need 'em more,
I guess, in your life.

At my house, I mean,
I have to be successful

to pay for the soft drinks and the beer

that the guys drink at
the house on the weekends.

He flew a flag at Rockingham every day.

He loved America. He loved
the red, white, and blue.

He loved that feeling that you get,
you know, on the Fourth of July,

and see jets fly over.

During the Olympics,
when he carried the torch.

That was a big thing to him.

That was one of the things we
talked about for years after.

How perfect the world was then.

I want to say to, uh...

the Hall of Fame members here,

I mean, as a kid, I watched these guys

and, well, I must have done something good

or something right to be here,
and I just want you to know

that I'll never let you guys down, man.

I'll live up to the honor
of being in this Hall

and being on your team.

Thank you very much.

The most unique aspect of O.J. Simpson

is that you're one of the few people

who've not only been
successful in athletics,

but that success has really
carried over to life after football.

Well, it's real exciting
for me to be back here.

You know, on the field
where I had so many thrills,

and to experience these
Buffalo Bills fans,

and, believe me, Howard,
they're in rare form tonight.

Well, he certainly tried
to be a commentator.

Peyton following Matt Suhey.

It's a testament to walk...
Walter's conditioning.

This guy works out
harder than anybody in...

He very much was involved
in corporate America

and being on boards.

I think he was trying, very intelligently,

to parley his fame into wealth.

By the '80s, O.J.
really was a businessman.

His new friends were all super wealthy,

powerful white men.

And I think really the
reason he surrounded himself

with all these big,
successful entrepreneurs

is because he saw himself as one, too.

I've always been, sort
of, an inquisitive person.

And I have friends who do
a lot of different things.

And I've made it a point
to find out what the people

around me were doing.

He called me a lot.

"Now, Frank, I have this
opportunity for HoneyBaked Hams."

Or "Frank, this friend of mine
is doing some storage things

in California."

I didn't always know those answers.

But I guess I enjoyed the fact

that he trusted me enough to do that.

I introduced him to the business world.

I took him places...

where I think very few
Black men had ever been.

The Pine Valley Golf Club.

The number one club in America.

I got him into Arcola.

He was the first black member of the club.

Oh, yeah, by a long shot.

This one time, he brought Sidney Poitier.

And, of course, the whole club was
circling around the two of them.

Even the bigots thought that was terrific.

They loved him.

Because he just fit in.

He could schmooze around
and get ingratiated,

'cause he was "The Juice".

Street-smart, this man was an Einstein.

He could cunningly and
calculatingly figure out exactly

what these white people
were thinking about,

but he was also that
way with Black people.

It was almost magnetic,
they were just drawn to it.

And I don't care who was there,

when he got to the room,
it was, "The Juice is here."

Here's the man whose
smile is more dazzling

than all his golden awards.

Sportsman, actor, all around wonderful

Mr. O.J. Simpson!

I always told him he had
delusions of grandeur.

He thought he could do
certain things in business

that he wasn't capable of.

Three!

One day he was gonna run
Paramount or 20th Century,

Warner Brothers...

Now, I mean, he believed things like that.

Ladies and gentlemen,
another winning performance

from Mr. O.J. Simpson!

There's something deep-seated...

that I think a lot of people like myself

have to face up to about what created

this complex character.

It wasn't just him, it was part society.

We were looking for a celebrity...

and I... I don't think we
wanted an all-white cast anymore,

as we did for the Police Squad TV show.

This was something that, you
know, kinda looked better...

for us.

He was still in the public
eye, but yet he was economical,

because I don't think he
was in demand for movies.

Police! Throw down your guns!

O.J. was fine for Naked Gun.

There was nobody better.

Ahh!

Oh, no!

Naked Gun surprised me...

How funny he was.

He's a funny man.

I mean, he was always a very funny man.

And he was always a selflessly funny man.

- Nordberg!
- Hiya, buddy!

Hey!

The doc says I should be on my
feet and as good as new in a week!

- And back on the force.
- Nordberg, that's wonderful!

Whoa!

Oh, Frank! Everyone should
have a friend like you!

I used to take a lot of
cops over to O.J.'s house,

and I would never tell them
who we were going to meet.

And I just loved looking at the expression

on my partner's face

when they looked and saw
O.J. opening the door,

and it was just like looking at...

You know, 'cause some of these
guys, you know, macho cops.

"Hey," you know, "I'm LAPD".

And you could see them melt
like little kids around this guy.

Everybody loved O.J.
Simpson, all the cops.

If you asked him for an autograph,
you asked him for whatever,

I mean, he was just really,
like, your best friend.

Now, let's take a look
at today's black culture

in the city of Los Angeles.

The most important point
that should be considered

in a law-enforcement
setting involving blacks

is the matter of respect.

Everyone should be treated
in a respectful manner.

Okay, 4-23, you see that, uh, male black.

He's walking on the north
side of the street there

on your right side.

Slow down. That's one
of the suspects there.

People who have been abused by the police

have no regard for them.

They don't believe that the police comes

to protect them, comes to serve them.

That would be an
unfortunate error in judgment

for you to conclude that all
persons of a particular group

are similar to the few you have
contact while you are working.

We're sorry if, you
know, it's our job too.

that... that we've had to do this.

We just can't let you go.

Look how I look.

I'm light, bright, but
damn sure not white. Okay?

But the reality is, when
I'm stopped by the police,

you know, they treat me like a nigger.

Okay, let's roll, and
let's be careful out there.

In 1978, Los Angeles police
chief Daryl Gates apologized

after saying some Hispanic
officers don't advance in the ranks

because they are, quote, "lazy",

and now an NAACP official

is calling a comment by Chief Gates,

quote, "so horrendous
that it's laughable."

It all started when he first defended

controversial choke holds.

A number of African-American
suspects had died

after being subjected to a choke hold,

and Gates was asked about it,
and he said the problem was

that they didn't respond
the same as normal people.

The chief needs some time off
to remove his foot from his mouth

and LAPD's choke hold from
the necks of black people.

When I started covering
the police department,

you could feel the
residue of that comment.

In fact, police officers
used to refer to the cars,

which normally people
would call black-and-whites,

they called them "black-and-normals".

And they would call them that in
front of a reporter, by the way.

So it's safe to say that
it was a sort of easy,

call it racial
insensitivity, call it racism,

within the department.

I moved to LA in 1988.

I had a really good friend
who lived there, and she said,

"I have to give you the black
man's guide to survival in LA.

Whatever you do, don't fuck with LAPD."

In Los Angeles it was a day filled
with tension in many communities,

because of the current
wave of gang warfare.

I feel like a prisoner on the streets.

This city has vowed to stop gang violence,

but as police hunt the people responsible,

they must follow a trail of bodies.

We're gonna do whatever's necessary,

and I told my people
we're gonna wage a war.

Operation Hammer,

that was the belief that
we overwhelm the community

with warrants where we believe
that we had violent criminals,

we could rid the problem.

Ladies, down on the ground!

Put your hands down, kneel over there!

Over the past week or so, Chief Gates,

how many arrests have you made?

Well, in the last month we've
made, uh, about 3,000 arrests.

Uh, just in the last
weekend we made, uh, 1,400.

You just have a culture
of officers who felt that,

uh, the only way the world will survive

is if we neutralize these individuals

as soon as possible.

Hands down, man.

And in the process of doing that,

they debased and demeaned the community.

You understand me?

There was no conversation
with the community about

"How should we deal with this?"

It was just hammer, hammer, hammer.

We have a war. We are
going to be successful.

Whatever it takes, we will do it.

I'd just put the kids into
bed, and the next thing I know,

they just came in with guns and
they were saying, "Get down",

and they grabbed me
by the back of my head,

and he threw me on the floor,

then they kicked me, and
they hit me on my back,

and they said, "Get down, bitch."

And then the kids were just
hollerin' and screamin'.

And the next thing I know

they were just tearing the place up.

1988, 39th and Dalton.

Not the best police practices.

Not the best way to manage
a, uh... a warrant service.

Everything was destroyed as police

batted and rammed their
way from room to room

searching for drugs.

Much of what they found were
screaming mothers and children.

This is my bedroom over here,

but they even broke all the
mirrors and stuff out of the bed.

They went in and literally
destroyed the apartment

where supposedly a lot of
drug activity was going on.

All this resulted in three quarters
of an ounce of rock cocaine seized

along with six ounces of pot.

You wouldn't go to
Beverly Hills and do that,

even if you thought there
was a... a mafia hangout.

Even if you thought it was legitimate.

I called my insurance, and
I told them what happened.

He said he had never heard
of the police doing this.

When you don't live in the community,
you don't think of 'em as human.

In my wildest dreams,
would have never thought

the police of the city of Los
Angeles would treat someone that way.

They started kicking me.

What they tell ya?

They didn't tell me nothin',

they started kicking me and hitting me

on my ribs and stuff.

Chief Gates, we're proud of you,
We're proud to wear the 'PD blue.

You'd go to the power of LAPD back then.

They pretty much could
do what they wanted to do.

Yeah.

Hi, I'm O.J. Simpson,
and this season on HBO,

I'm gonna be high-stepping
right into your living room.

All right, we'll do it again.

When O.J. was at SC,

in my generation you didn't have
the jerseys you could go buy,

so I would take my T-shirts
and write "Simpson",

and I'd put, you know,

like, you know, his number,
32, and, "Okay, I'm O.J."

Hi, I'm O.J. Simpson,
and this season on HBO,

I'm gonna be high-stepping
right into your living room.

I just thought, "One day,
I wanna meet this guy."

Okay, what's the next one?

And it was through Marcus Allen.

Follow me through Training Camp,
and I guarantee that I'll...

Hey, Juice, I did hear my name.

Hey, man, this is my spot, Marcus.

Well, I've got the ball now.

I'd been marketing Marcus for a few years.

And I told him, uh,

"O.J. ever needs a manager, let me know."

Training Camp is a time
to show what you can do.

It's a time to show off your skills.

You can prove yourself as a man.

Blah, blah, blah.

I did public appearances, endorsements,

TV commercials...

... autograph signings,

basically everything
encompassing his image.

This week in Training Camp...

This week in Training Camp...

This week in Training Camp... No.

The big thing that has always
been in everybody's head is image.

Image is everything.

Never do anything that is
going to harm his image.

Thank you guys.

I remember he had a...

a little hundred-yard dash
with Marcus Allen one day.

And he had bad knees,
O.J., from all the running.

And he beat fuckin' Marcus.
I couldn't believe it.

It's something inside of him.

He wanted to win, no matter what it took.

Chopping through that swing. And look out.

When he first started playing
golf, he violated every rule.

Okay. He's gotta work on
his balance a little bit.

I played with O.J. and this other friend,

Little Joe Kolkowitz.

O.J. had the worst form
of anybody on this planet

when he swung a golf club.

One day, on the first tee,
he hits this big drive,

and it hooks into the trees, heavy stuff.

So we go down the fairway,
we're waiting and waiting

'til Joe goes after him.

All of a sudden, he finds his ball

after a place where we probably went over.

He sees the ball sitting on
a tee, and he says to O.J.,

"You can't do this shit, man."

I go, "Jeez, come on."

"Do you know what the odds
of the ball landing on a tee

in this area... ?"

He totally was not going to
confess to the whole thing.

He definitely cheated.

Yes. Yes.

What he'd do, he had a ball in his pants,

and he'd drop it out and then,

"Hey, you guys, come on over here."

You know, "Here's my ball."

And he did that to the point where finally

a bunch of guys got together,
and they hired a caddy.

We called it The Juice Patrol.

And so he'd follow O.J.
around in another cart,

so he wouldn't cheat.

It was funny. It was, you know,
it was like you couldn't get mad.

It was very hard to get mad at him.

One of the things you pride
yourself in in being a golfer

is you don't cheat,

but people made a joke out of it,

because they so badly
wanted him to understand

the rules and regulations
of this part of society

that didn't tolerate
that type of behavior.

And yet he had that amazing charm

that you'd somehow let him
get away with certain things.

Juice! Juice!

Juice! Juice!

Touchdown!

Whenever you went somewhere with him,

like, doors would just open,

and, you know, people
would pick up checks.

I'd say to him, "Hey, Juice,

how are we going to get in... somewhere?

We don't have any tickets."

He would go like this...

He... That's his ticket.

I think he became entitled.

I certainly felt bedazzled by O.J.
and Nicole and their lifestyle,

and I was very charmed by him,

but I always did sense that
part of it was not sincere.

The other side is my better side, I think.

Turn the other side for me.

And I did feel that he
took advantage of that.

And if you allowed him to, I
think he would, uh, use you.

All right, we're set here.

My kissable lips, ooh.

While he was married, his integrity was...

I mean, uh... not as I would have it.

I will put it that way.

He was an incorrigible womanizer.

He just never stopped.

He cornered me a couple
times and tried to make, uh,

sexual, you know, advance and,
you know, I kind of pushed him off.

I think O.J. felt entitled
to anything O.J. wanted,

and I think that he really needed
that adulation from other women.

She knew he had affairs,
and it drove her crazy.

Most of their big fights

were about his affairs with other women.

He went out of his way to
almost rub it in her face.

He'd be in Las Vegas at a
show and be holding hands

with another woman.

She would be watching TV, and, I mean,

I don't know how she put up with it.

He was pretty darn brazen.

I think he even blamed his
affair with Tawny Kitaen

on the fact that Nicole got
fat when she got pregnant.

And he didn't wanna have sex with her.

Something as superficial and cold as that.

Â♪ ... on the hammock,
take a little swing. Â♪

Look! See the trees?

I told him, "Man, you're
breaking the laws of God,

and nobody does it with immunity.

You're gonna pay for it, man.

One day everybody's gonna know
everything that you've done, man."

When you hear a call come out,

and the 911 operator puts out on the call

that she can hear the woman
being beaten in the background,

that... that's serious.

When I got there,

I saw an electronic buzzer
system, so I pushed the button.

Almost simultaneously,
a tall, female blonde

came running out of the bushes.

She's wearing nothin'
but a bra and sweatpants,

covered in mud.

And she kept yelling,

"He's gonna kill me! He's gonna kill me!"

When that gate opened, she ran up

and just put her arms
around me and clasped on me.

She was so wet and cold

that you could feel her
shivering to her bone.

And I said, "Well, who's gonna kill you?"

She said, "O.J."

She says, "You guys have been
up here eight times before.

All you do is talk to
him, you never do anything.

He's gonna kill me."

Her face had already swollen.

She actually had an imprint

on one side of her face and her forehead.

So I said, "Do you want him
arrested for beating you?"

She said, "Yes."

About that time, O.J. Simpson
came right up to the fence,

and he started yelling,

"I don't want her in my bed anymore.

I got two other women.

I don't want her in my bed anymore."

He's got a receding hairline,
so you can see his forehead,

and this vein was popping out, pulsating,

and it was right up his forehead.

I told him, "I'm placing you
under arrest for beating your wife.

You're gonna have to go get
dressed so I can take you to jail."

He turned around and went back
in the house to get dressed.

Suddenly I saw a Bentley pull
out of the other driveway.

So I said, "Back up. He's
trying to get away in a car."

And we backed out of the driveway,
and I never caught him with that car.

I never found him.

Downtown Los Angeles, little ocean haze.

There is no smog today,
everybody's takin' it easy.

Here at the 75th Rose
Bowl game, score 7-3.

1989, Trojans were in the Rose Bowl.

I was privileged enough
to... to have sideline passes

and that was actually the first time
I'd ever been to a Rose Bowl game

on the sidelines, 'cause
when I was a walk-on at USC,

I never got to play.

I was just having the time of my life.

All of a sudden, one of O.J.'s
really, really good friends

came up and tapped me on the shoulder.

He said, "Hey, man, uh, O.J. had
a problem last night, you know,

and, uh, he really needs to talk to you."

It's over.

When I called, he said, "Hey,
man, I had a little riff.

Boys had to come out.

Right now I feel like I'm a fugitive."

And he explained to me
that they had an argument,

and she got real physical with him,

and he had to defend himself
and grab her and hold her...

The way he... he told me
the story, I'm thinkin',

"Hey, man, no big deal. You
know? Um, you didn't hit her.

You know, you said she was aggressive,

and you were trying to stop her from...

from beating you up. Um, no big deal."

And... And when I got to work the
next morning, it was a big deal.

I got a call from downstairs,
"Someone wants to talk to you,"

and there's Nicole in the lobby.

"Hey, Nicole, what's up?"

You know, she... she goes, "Did
you hear about what happened?"

I said, "Yeah, I did hear what happened."

And she told me it wasn't the first time.

Showed me the pictures from the past...

... beatings, and I
looked at those pictures

and my heart just... just, like, dropped.

I was like, "Man, this
guy is a typical batterer."

The '89 thing, the way I saw
him act in Hawaii that Christmas

convinced me that, um,

boy, there was something
really, really wrong.

He freaked out about Nicole
sitting their little son

next to a homosexual in
a restaurant they were at.

I mean, he just freaked.

And they fought all the way back.

The next day I got a call that, uh,
he freaked out on New Year's Eve,

and he beat the hell out of her.

Nicole knew that I used
to teach domestic violence

for the Los Angeles Police Department.

And she asked me,

"O.J.'s dad is gay.

Do you think this is why he beats me?"

And I was like, "I... I,
you know, I don't know,

but a lot of that stuff has
to do with their self-esteem."

O.J. Simpson that night

definitely got preferential treatment.

Had that have been anybody else,
you or me, we'd have gone to jail.

I did place him under arrest.

I tried my best, but couldn't get to him.

But when you tell someone
they're under arrest,

they are under arrest.

If he flees, then, he's a fleeing felony.

But the unique thing
about O.J. is it was O.J.

Where can he go? Where can he hide?

Where can he run to...

on the face of this earth?

Where can he go?

Now the story that
might never have surfaced

if someone hadn't picked
up his home video camera.

I can remember that moment
like it was yesterday.

I was laying in my bed,
and I called out to my wife.

I said, "You gotta come
see, you can't believe this."

How will the police justify this one?

How will they get out of this one?

Police say the man,
25-year-old Rodney King,

was involved in a high-speed
chase, wanted as a parole violator.

The police department says
there will be no comment

until its investigation is complete.

As yet, no charges have been filed.

This is what happens
when you take away a tool

that would have ended this in 10 seconds.

Choke hold.

Look how this thing looks.
You can't justify that.

I was the captain at Watts at the time.

Atten-hut.

The next day, we had a training day.

I remember standing in front of
all of the troops, and I told them,

"The LAPD will never be the same again."

Oh, it was devastating,

because there's gonna be a
belief that if these guys do it,

everybody else does it.

Those guys driving down the street
in the black-and-white do that.

And that's just not the case.

But that visual image,
folks remember that,

and they will take it to their grave.

That home video showing a black motorist

being beaten by a white
Los Angeles policeman

has triggered investigations
now by the FBI,

the district attorney there,

and the police department itself.

The media didn't give
LAPD a break on this one.

They showed that tape
over and over and over.

I mean, it wasn't just in Los Angeles.

It was all over the world.

I was embarrassed for Los Angeles.

The real significance wasn't
what you saw on the tape.

That tape became exhibit one

for every mishandled abuse
and excessive force incident

that anyone had ever experienced.

This is an aberration.

This is something that
should never have happened.

We had in place all of the procedures

that would keep it from happening.

Those procedures fell down
because of human error.

And we will deal with that human error.

I believe things like that
do happen from time to time,

but they are anomalies.

That's not what happens all day, every day

in the thousands of contacts that occur.

I don't believe it. I'll never believe it.

Daryl Gates started out
saying it was an aberration.

And we say, "Darryl, don't
you remember Eulia Love?"

I think the thing that's most
shocking about the King incident

isn't even what happens to King.

It's the fact that all those officers

go back to their police
divisions that night,

none of them knowing
that a video tape exists.

They all file their reports

and not one of 'em says, in any document,

that they saw anything go wrong.

That suggests to me a culture in which

this wasn't perceived as something wrong.

In Los Angeles today,

four men were arrested,
photographed, and fingerprinted.

They were policemen,

charged with assault with a deadly weapon

in the beating of a black motorist.

Named in the indictment:

Officers Laurence Powell, Ted Briseno

and Timothy Wind

and their supervising
sergeant, Stacey Koon.

The FBI will investigate
whether the federal civil rights

of the victim, Rodney
King, have been violated.

A story is not a story
unless there's conflict.

Do you really wanna say this is a felon

speeding on the freeway
under the influence

of a hallucinogenic and/or alcohol,

or do you wanna say he's a "motorist",

and he was stopped by these racist cops?

How do you know these cops are racist?

They are not racist.

The furor is only growing
with the revelations

of police communications over
their in-car computer terminals.

An earlier message from
the Powell-Wind unit

referred to a previous call as
"'right out of Gorillas in the Mist."

Has there been times
that we've been brutal,

uh, used excessive force?

Absolutely.

The racist part is really
tough to choke down for me.

During my 38 years there, I didn't see it.

Civil rights organizations say
the Los Angeles police department

has a history of brutality and misconduct

that goes back a quarter of a century,

including one incident that
sparked the Watts riots.

We want effective law-enforcement
in the city of Los Angeles.

You take an oath to protect and serve,

but when you come to the black community,

all you do is abuse!

Hey, hey! Ho, ho!

You can only take so many shots
publicly before your reputation

is so soiled that it can be
manipulated over and over again.

That will always be included
in the argument to demonstrate

how brutal and insensitive
and racist the LAPD is.

It's like you can't put Humpty
Dumpty back together again.

We're outraged, we're disgusted,
and let's close this one with,

No more! No more! No more!
No more! No more! No more!

It comes to Latasha Harlins,
coming to the counter

with what she was going
to buy in one hand,

money in the other.

Altercation,

walks away,

is shot in the back of the head.

Latasha Harlins really hit home,

because my daughter was the
same age as Latasha Harlins.

Rodney King didn't touch me
as much as Latasha Harlins,

because this girl was killed.

She was a little teenage
girl buying some orange juice.

Mm-mm.

That... that could've been my child.

Up until Saturday morning,

Soon Ja Du was a Korean
grocer in Los Angeles.

Now she's an alleged criminal,

facing a first-degree murder charge.

Well, at this time, she's looking
at a maximum of 30 years to life.

According to witnesses and
a security camera video tape,

Harlins never tried to steal the juice.

Instead, investigators say
Du angrily confronted the girl

and then shot her with
a .38 caliber handgun.

I hope and I know that
justice will serve itself,

and she will get what she deserved.

Soon Ja Du had no
respect for that young...

The way they beat Rodney King, okay?

Her shooting Latasha Harlins...

It's the same people, okay,
that are being victimized.

The recommendation of the
people was maximum state prison.

I think that the death
of Latasha deserved that.

The court decided otherwise.

Mrs. Du is placed on formal probation

for five years on the
following terms and conditions.

Mrs. Du is to perform 400
hours of community service.

Get the cameras off!

No cameras! Get the camera out of my face!

The judge called for peace. She said...

How can you have peace when...?

What? This woman killed a child.

She killed a child and
not getting any jail time?

I... I... I haven't
gotten over that, really.

Wake up, Los Angeles! Wake up!
Let not her blood be in vain!

Latasha was killed, our family was killed.

- Yeah!
- That's right!

Racism is not the Korean killing
her, racism is the courts system...

- That's right!
- ... that allows her to kill her.

Karlin must go! Karlin must go!

Chanting "Karlin must
go", angry protestors

stormed through security checkpoints
at the courthouse in Compton.

They are still outraged over
Judge Joyce Karlin's decision

not to send Latasha
Harlins' killer to jail.

They are willing to go to
jail to get their point across.

In the community, you go
to jail for selling crack

for 20 years, 20 and 30 years.

How you gonna kill
somebody and get probation?

What kind of sense does that make?

What kind of justice is that?

39th and Dalton,

then Rodney King,

then Latasha Harlins.

Three defining issues in different ways,

but the tension in the environment

and the disrespect shown
to Black life was the theme.

ESPN presents...

Sports Look

with the personalities and cover stories

making news in the world of sport.

Now, here's your host, Roy Firestone.

When you live your life
so publicly and, uh,

really almost with such ease,

uh, it's hard to believe that
there could ever be any rocky time.

The reason I'm bringing that to light now

is not to dredge it up again,

but more or less talk about
how things can get distorted

to such a point that you
are portrayed as the bad guy.

Um, New Year's Eve,

you had a little bit too much to drink.

- There was some...
- Uh, you know, that's...

You know, actually,

you know, my wife and I have
been together for 12 years

and it really... when I look at it,

it wasn't really that big of a fight,

it's just that because of,
uh, it being New Year's Eve...

Right.

... because it's three
o'clock in the mornin',

just finished a big party,

uh, it got a little verb...
it... it got a little loud.

Here's... here's my point,
the point I'm making, Juice...

Yeah.

... is that it got to such a point

that you were portrayed in the press
for a while there like a wife beater.

Yeah, well, and that bothered me.

Obviously, it bothered my whole family.

I mean, uh, you know, the
day after this was over,

you know, we looked at, say...

you know, we had a fight,

we were both guilty.

No one was hurt, was no big
deal, and we got on with our life.

I had always suspected that
they had violent fights.

The day of my wedding I
found out that Nicole and O.J.

were not going to be attending...

and he said it was because

Nicole was having very
bad cramps from her period.

I thought it was a lie.

It was always Nicole's fault.
I mean, even the '89 thing.

When I cornered him
sitting on a golf cart,

I listened for nine holes,

everything that she did wrong
to create what had happened.

"You think that she's bruised
up, you should have seen my face,"

you know, the... the whole pity
thing that he always went through.

I think anybody that
knew them... it was over.

Then it was a matter of when
would Nicole have the fortitude

to just completely walk away.

She said, "Ron,

if it wasn't for the
kids, I'd be out of here."

And then I get a call from O.J.

He says, "You gotta help me here.

You... you gotta help save this marriage.

You gotta talk to Nicole, tell
her I'll never do it again."

I saw her start to soften,
because by this time,

O.J. is just doing
everything with the kids.

And they're just having a great time,

he's taking them here,
he's taking them there.

She's looking at me goin',

"Hey, Ron, he's really
changing. He's really changing."

When it turned toward
the domestic violence,

that was one that nobody wanted to hear.

The police didn't wanna hear it,

most certainly Hertz didn't wanna hear it,

NBC didn't wanna hear it.

Nobody wanted to deal with that.

Back to you, Bob.

When we heard that, I thought that was it.

That's... it's over.

You know who called me to tell
me that it was a false arrest?

Nicole.

Nicole called me and said,

"Frank, it didn't happen that way."

They'd had a terrible
argument, but he wasn't abusive.

They just overreacted.

I certainly understand how
she got involved with him,

and I could understand how
hard it would be to leave that.

There was a lot to leave.

Especially if it was to go
back to your parents' house

in Laguna Beach and start over.

O.J. was the income
producer for the family.

For not only just Nicole and O.J.

but for Nicole's father,
and mother, sisters...

He was the... the money man.

Nicole told me that she felt
her family would side with O.J.

And that... and that
disturbed her a great deal.

Nicole was like the trophy to him.

You know, something
that... that he possessed,

that he wanted control of, you know?

And "You better do what
I say," but, you know,

"You better go along with this program."

I... I totally believe he
was concerned about his image.

What kind of public reaction did you get,

and what kind of corporate
reaction did you get, Juice?

Surprisingly, so supportive
it was unbelievable, you know?

So supportive, you know?

Uh, most of the people that
I work with know us real well,

so they can see first-hand that
there was, uh, you know, that,

hey, our relationship was as strong as...

not only as it's ever been, but
as strong as anybody's I know.

So nobody dropped you from any contracts?

- No. No. No.
- See, the one thing that...

another thing people
don't realize about O.J.

is he is extremely, uh, well-involved
in the business community.

And he doesn't wanna do this,
'cause it's embarrassing to him,

but he is one of the
owners of HoneyBaked Hams,

uh, Ramada Inns, a couple of Ramada Inns,

three Ramada Inns,

very involved, of course, with Hertz.

And when something like this happens,

it takes a toll,

it takes a bite out of it, but, you know,

it boun... you bounce back
from something like this.

Once they really,
really got back together,

you know, I mean, we were
still friends, you know,

I still know the guy and everything,

but, you know,

he kinda had that, uh, attitude,

"I'm back. I knew I'd be back."

You know, "Hey... Don't worry about it."

You know, "Everything's fine."

This is where O.J. Simpson
performed community service

as part of his sentence for
beating his wife, Nicole.

For part of his punishment,
Simpson went golfing.

He spent his 120 hours
of community service

organizing a celebrity tournament.

Prosecutors in the case say
they wanted him to go to jail.

Can you imagine if every time he
did something violent like that

that a report would've been made?

When I got to the station,
I checked the computer,

there would have been eight previous
domestic incident reports on file.

Then I would have put that in my report

and sent it on to the prosecutor,

that most likely that would
have been filed as a felony.

Because it would have shown
that a slap on the hand

is not going to cure
this from happening again.

And that's why I hung onto the report.

I don't have a garage full of reports,

I have one report, one,

that was O.J. Simpson's
report because I thought

that the case might be
mishandled, and I needed proof

that it actually happened,

and I thought he was gonna kill her.

A controversial case involving
four Los Angeles police officers

goes to court today.

The officers face charges

stemming from the videotaped
beating of a motorist.

The case has already raised accusations

of officially-sanctioned
racism and brutality.

At issue is the use of force.

The question is whether
their force was justified

by King's behavior
before the camera rolled.

I don't think that that
should have been prosecuted.

Those officers had about
two seconds to make up

their mind to do something,

and they did what they
thought was right at the time.

When is too much? When is not enough?

Should they go to trial? Definitely not.

On film, what you see was illegal.

There had to be a prosecution,

and if there isn't a
legitimate reason for this,

there's jail time involved with this one.

I was fairly new to LA, so I'm thinkin',

"Hey, we got 'em... we got 'em
cold. This time we'll get justice."

And there were people who had lived
in those communities a long time,

and they were saying,

"Well, you know, maybe. I hope so.

But it's not a done deal."

In a brand-new courthouse
in a distant LA suburb

called Simi Valley,

the city's drama is putting
a little town on the map.

The defense had the trial moved

from Los Angeles county
to this bedroom suburb.

This area is notably more
white and conservative than LA.

It was a horrible decision.

It was the worst possible decision.

And a lot of LAPD officers
live in Simi Valley.

The idea is that you get a
representative cross-section

of the community, that's what
the sixth amendment talks about,

and that people come in with
different life experiences,

because you really do need

the people to come from
different walks of life

so that you get a complete
understanding of the testimony.

Completely in fear for
my life, scared to death

that if this guy got back up,

he was gonna take my gun away from me.

Cases involving charges
against police officers

are rarely slam dunks.

Even when they're on videotape.

Do you believe that the
actions of your officers

up to this point were having
any effect on Mr. King?

None at all. This was a managed
and controlled use of force.

It followed the policies and procedures

of Los Angeles Police
Department and the training.

Now, as the defense presents its case,

civil rights lawyers
like Johnny Cochran worry

that convictions are far from certain,

because the prosecutors
seem to lack experience

dealing with cops.

Somebody with some experience
has to stand up and say,

"Look, you can't get away with this.

This isn't right, and we're
not gonna let it happen."

The prosecution's strategy seems to be

to let the violence of the
videotape speak for itself.

But nobody is certain anymore what
that tape is saying to the jury.

I had been telling my
people at Time Magazine,

"There's something going on.

We need to pay attention.

There's a story here beyond this trial."

I just sensed there was this unrest.

The day started like any other
day, but it really wasn't.

We were waiting for the verdict
to be handed down in the trial

of the four white police officers

that were charged with
beating Rodney King.

Sergeant Koon, how are you feeling?

No comment.

I got up that morning and I said,

"I gotta go out there
and see what's going on."

So I got on the freeway and
started looking for Simi Valley.

It's a all-white town.

I only saw white people
out there that day,

and they wasn't that kind to me
when I was asking for direction.

I wanted to be there to witness it,

and I guess I thought that my being there

was gonna change something.

Title of accordant cause:

We the jury, in the above-entitled action,

find the defendant,

Laurence M. Powell not guilty of...

Man, you got to be kiddin'.

We the jury, in the above-entitled action,

find the defendant Theodore J. Briseno

not guilty of the crime of assault

by force likely to
produce great bodily injury

with a deadly weapon.

This 29th day of April,
1992, signed by the court.

Title of accordant cause:

We the jury, in the above-entitled action,

find the defendant, Timothy E. Wind,

not guilty of the crime
of assault by force

likely to produce great bodily
injury with a deadly weapon.

I was sitting in the bureau
the day of the verdict,

with all of my white
colleagues and friends.

We the jury...

And every time they said, "Not guilty"...

... the defendant, Stacey
C. Koon, not guilty...

... what I heard was, "Fuck
niggers. Not guilty. Fuck niggers."

No justice! No peace!
No justice! No peace!

I was at Parker Center when
the acquittals were announced.

And I recall some high-fives
and some fist-pumping in the air,

and, I mean, there were
clearly some people who felt

that the public misunderstood them,
that the media misunderstood them,

and that the jury got it right.

Well, first, all your
reaction to what has happened.

Very happy.

I'm glad the LAPD are
out there protecting me...

I wanted to believe that
the system would work

for black people in general,

even though I knew often it doesn't,

but this time, it should
work. And it didn't.

And all I felt like,

I just wanted to smack somebody white.

You're guilty!

Your skin color determines
what degree of justice

you have these days.

I don't think the community's
gonna take this lying down.

I don't think this is gonna be good.

No justice in America, not for the blacks!

The justice is for the other
man, not for the brother man!

Pastor, your reaction after
that first verdict was read?

Our reaction was almost
universal, utter pain.

Justice! Justice!

Rodney King did not
have a choirboy's record,

but Rodney King had the flesh and blood

of decency and humanity in his heart.

What they were beating is
every Black person in America.

Don't lay down for this shit!

We had an understanding
that the night of the verdict

we would assemble at First AME Church.

We'd been meeting with
the mayor to get ready.

I said Beverly Hills,

'cause this is some fucked-up
shit that happened, man.

- This is history...
- We're going to Westwood...

Brentwood, Whitewood. All that.

We were gonna send out groups of young men

to walk the streets and
keep everything in order.

I had spent weeks talking to
Black clergy, gang members,

and they were very upfront about
what they believed would happen.

"Yeah, there's gonna be violence."

So we had everything prepared.
We had the copter fully fueled.

It seems like the only people

that didn't know that
there would be a riot

was the news media and the LAPD.

You're looking at a live picture
here at Normandie and Florence.

There has been a
mini-riot at this location.

There's now been a tactical alert.

Officers have been ordered to
stay out of this general area.

We're gonna try to get you
more information on that.

Even before the verdict,

Los Angeles police chief
Daryl Gates was criticized

for preparing for unrest in the event

four of his officers were acquitted.

But when the rioting began,

where were the police and firefighters?

My most striking memory is of
members of the police commission

desperately trying to find Gates.

Which is just shocking, if you
think about it in retrospect,

that the verdicts in the Rodney King case

were coming down and the
chief was not at Parker Center.

Gates had driven to this
house in ritzy Brentwood

to campaign against a
police reform initiative.

Fighting police reform,
that's what he was doing.

He abandoned his post

and left his troops in a shameful state.

The LAPD response was tepid.

All of the media gets
on the police department,

the people are screaming,

"We have an occupying force."

Well, gee, we don't wanna
look like an occupying force,

so maybe we'll just sit
here until it blows over.

That type of crap goes on.

And we were furious.

- Fuck the police!
- Fuck 'em! Fuck 'em!

Chaos at this particular location.

To see the very start of the
violence was very troubling.

What made it really troubling
was there was no police presence.

There's a van coming under attack.

They're pulling the driver out of the van,

and they're kicking the
driver and beating the driver.

We captured what essentially became

the bookend to the Rodney King beating.

There's another driver, badly beaten.

In the case of Reginald Denny,

we had black gang members
beating a white man.

Oh, look at that. Terrible.

And there's no police presence down here.

They will not enter the area.

That was the most disgusting thing
I've seen in my entire career.

Two blocks away we had a
platoon of metro division.

We could have cleared that
intersection in a minute.

But the commander there

didn't wanna release 'em to
do it, because of imagery.

We're on live television.

We're seeing a dark
day here in Los Angeles.

The LAPD is nowhere to be found.

So we're sitting there in our uniforms

watching this poor truck
driver get his head beat in.

Nobody's doing a damn thing about it.

We're screamin'.

Nobody would even move on it.

How are you this evening?

- Angry.
- Angry?

The jury is trying to tell
us we didn't see what we saw.

We've been the victims of
police brutality in this town

for too long!

We didn't come here tonight to mourn.

We came here tonight to say who we are.

And we ain't gonna take
this business lying down.

And we ain't gonna tear up our community

to be proving their point.

Mark Brown, Channel Seven
waved at the monitor and said,

"The city's on fire. It's on fire."

And I looked at him and said, "My God."

I had no idea it was
right across the street.

Literally.

The gas station was on fire.

What I didn't anticipate
personally and professionally

was the response of the community.

I went on the streets, and
Western Avenue was in flames.

And this crowd is gathering,
and the police have now come,

and there's one guy, and
he's screaming his head off,

"Burn, baby, burn!

How you like me now, Mr. Policeman?"

And I felt his pain.

I just didn't get it.

I just didn't understand
burning down your own community.

I didn't get what it proved.

Here are people who feel
like they have no stake,

nobody's paying any attention to them.

This is the only way we
can get any attention.

As it got darker, a
crowd began to gather out

in front of the police department.

It got increasingly unruly.

Someone grabbed me and tore my shirt

and said something about, you know,

"You fucking newsmen.
Why do you tell lies?"

It is the most physically-frightening
situation that I've ever been part of.

Guy pulls up, and he goes,

"Mike, whatever you do,
don't go to the command post.

Go to the police station down the street.

Because it's very violent out there."

I looked at him, and I
thought, "What a coward he is,"

get in the car, make the first turn,
and the car gets lit up by gunfire.

So I go, "Okay. Now I know
what he's talking about."

So I took my .45 out, I put it on my lap,

I took a big gulp of Copenhagen,

stuck it down my mouth,
turned off the lights

and drove as fast as I
could to the command post.

Hindsight, the overall management
could've been done much better,

but once it got away
from us, we were cooked.

911 Emergency.

Yeah, can you send someone to my house?

What's the problem there?

Well, my ex-husband, or my husband,

just broke into my house,

and he's ranting and raving.

Now he's just walked
out on the front yard.

Has he been drinking or anything?

No, but he's crazy.

Is he black, white, or Hispanic?

Black.

What's he wearing right now?

Black pants and a golf shirt.

You said he hasn't been drinking?

- No.
- Did he hit you?

No.

Do you have a restraining
order against him?

No.

What's your name?

Nicole Simpson.

Your address?

325 Gretna Green Way.

Okay, we'll send police out.

- Thank you.
- Uh-huh.

When Nicole first decided to leave O.J.,

she came to me.

She said, "I wanna move
out" and at that time,

I was doing real estate.

And then we had to sell O.J. on the idea.

He was obsessed with controlling Nicole.

I said, "Look, O.J.,
we'll get her a lease."

He goes, "Three months."

I said, "We'll get her a year lease.
You know? It'll be right nearby.

You can go to therapy and see
if you can work things out.

But she needs her space."

He really didn't wanna do it.

I think for the first time she felt free.

It was like she just came
into that sense of self,

that she was really ready to
do life for her and her kids.

She responded great to being divorced.

She was really enjoying her life,

going out and not being Mrs. Simpson,

being Nicole Brown.

She wanted to pursue
her photography career,

and she wanted to have
a normal life again.

It was a beautiful day,

and we skied down to the
bottom of the mountain.

And everybody's gathering on
the deck, having a great time.

I looked across the
deck, and I said, "Wow."

I said that, "That is absolutely
the most stunning woman

I've ever seen in my life.

I have to find a way to
introduce myself to her."

So I did.

When I got back to LA
several months later,

we spent more time together.

Her and friends came
by Mezzaluna one night,

and we're having a good
time, and, all of a sudden,

I see the Bentley come screeching up

to the front of the door.

He comes in, walks
straight over to our table,

slams his hands down,

looks me straight in the eye and says,

"I'm O.J. Simpson, and
she's still my wife."

I was sort of love-blind,

so I didn't get up, I didn't
run, I didn't back down,

I just stood my ground from day one.

And that's when she
started to open up to me.

She told me about years
of abuse at his hands.

He would beat her and lock
her in closets at hotels

because she asked where he was at

when he was out cheating on her.

She was told how to look,
told how to wear her hair,

told how to dress,

told where to be, what time to be,

how to be, everything for O.J. Simpson.

Kind of a reverse slavery
thing. Uh, very, very odd.

You know, "That's, uh,
that's my property,"

and he always said, "That's my booty."

The two sides of O.J.,

the O.J. that everybody sees on TV...

And when the Cowboys
brought in their big back,

that they didn't make good
tackles on them, so the coach

was on their cases to make better tackles,

as my family throws snowballs at me.

Incidentally, uh...

That's not the O.J. that
there was behind closed doors,

certainly not with her,
and she told me that.

"Don't ever be left alone with him,

'cause you don't know
what he's capable of."

He had her followed, and he
would plant people in our group

that would call him and tell him
where we're going every night.

He would either show up

or have a spy planted there at the club

so they could watch her every move.

He never relinquished control.
He never would really let go.

He would tell me that
Nicole tried to get him back,

that she was actually taking
golf lessons at Riviera.

And he had a girlfriend, you know, Paula.

And he seemed enthralled with her.

O.J.'s personality had totally changed,

and I didn't think it
was just the divorce.

Because his womanizing didn't change.

He was truly the most jealous
person I ever met in my life.

He was as jealous as he
was a good football player.

I saw the anger,

I saw the rage in his
face on several occasions.

At me, in particular, and at her.

There was an incident where
we went over to Roxbury,

a hot club at the time in LA,

and we get in, and she's dancing.

Maybe 20, 30 minutes go by, and
I see her coming back towards me.

She goes, "O.J.'s here."
And I go, "Ha. Great. Again."

You know, she goes, "Let's
just get out of here."

And I say, "I couldn't agree more."

So we drive back to her
house on Gretna Green.

We go inside, and, uh, we became romantic.

We were off in a private area
in one of the living rooms,

and the next day he came over
and pushed in the back door,

confronted both of us,

and he wanted to talk to her alone.

She was trembling, standing next to me,

holding my hand, shaking.

And she said,

"Keith, I think you need to leave me
alone with him for a couple minutes."

I could hear him screaming at her,

I could hear him using disparaging terms

about her and me.

They walked out, and he was O.J. again.

Shook my hand.

"Sorry, dude. No hard feelings."

You know, "I'm a very proud man."

And he walked out the house.

And she turned to me, and she was
white as a ghost, and she said,

"Oh, my God, Keith. He watched us."

And everything changed from that point on.

We realized we weren't safe anymore.

We realized that nothing was off limits.

I think she knew O.J. was
always a presence. She hated it.

She couldn't even explore
being single again and...

and free and having fun,

because everybody was still
being manipulated by O.J.

When he found out that
she had been with Marcus,

that's... that was a real issue.

It's a time you look the competition

right in the face and say,

- "Look, I'm better than you."
- No, I'm better than you.

You may be younger, but you ain't better.

Yo, who started?

And don't be taking my number either.

Besides, I'm better lookin'.

I'm tired of you trying to be like me.

I remember going with O.J.
to watch Marcus play at USC.

He was kinda like a mentor to Marcus.

They were extremely close. Extremely.

You know, Marcus got
married at O.J.'s house.

I think she always
festered a crush for Marcus.

And he was the only person in her life

that was as famous and as strong as O.J.

And so I think she felt in a
way that she was safe with him.

O.J. said, "Marcus, we're 'SC guys.

We don't do that to each other.
What the hell's wrong with you?"

He was a younger version of O.J.

He was almost like the
newer, bigger, better version.

I had no... no idea whatsoever,

uh, that they were carrying
on some kind of affair.

I was a bit stunned.

Did you ever have a romantic
relationship with Nicole?

No, I did not.

No kind of sexual or romantic involvement

did you ever have with her?

None whatsoever.

I really do not wanna
talk about that at all.

Sometimes I'll try to sing,
but I'm not gonna do it.

Tonight I got this tequila in me.

The girl I came here with said to me,

"Is this a blues place?"

I said, "Oh, no, no, no.
This is rhythm and blues."

Speaking of that lady
I was talking about...

There she is.

With another shot of this tequila.

Now, watch her... Yeah, that's right.

Now, watch her sing.

I don't know if... Oh, my God.

That's right.

We're live right now all across America,

and she is my woman.

I'm taking her tequila.

That's why I'm not singing tonight.

When they initially got back together,

I was the first person she told about it.

He had told her, "I'm
changed. I'm a new man.

Let me prove this to ya."

She said, "We're gonna date first,
and I'm not giving up my house,

and we're gonna see how it goes."

That was how they tried to reconcile.

She said all she really
ever wanted was her family.

It's almost like she risked everything
to have that unit back together.

911 Emergency. What is the... ?

Can you get someone over
here now, to 325 Gretna Green?

He's back. Please.

Okay. What does he look like?

He's O.J. Simpson. I
think you know his record.

Could you just send somebody over here?

Okay. What is he doing there?

He's just... All this again.

Could you just send somebody over?

Wait a minute. What kind of car is he... ?

We were filming another Naked Gun movie,

and it was the first time
I can remember him being

just in one of the foulest moods ever.

And he said, "It's just Nicole bullshit."

First of all, he broke the back door down

to get in before...

Okay. Wait a minute. What's your name?

Nicole Simpson.

Okay. Is he the sportscaster or whatever?

- Yeah.
- Okay.

Thank you.

My ex-girlfriend approached
him on the movie set

and said some very disparaging things

about Nicole and myself,

so I knew that O.J. was
gonna take it out on Nicole.

Wait a minute, we're sending police.

What is he doing? Is he threatening you?

I... He's fucking going nuts.

You're gonna hear him in a minute.
He's about to come in again.

Okay, just stay on the line...

I don't wanna stay on the line.

He's gonna beat the shit out of me.

Wait a minute, would you?
Just stay on the line,

so we can know what's going on
'til the police get there, okay?

It wasn't until years later
that I actually sat down,

and I had even listened to the 911 call.

I knew different voices for
Nicole, and she wasn't mad,

she definitely wasn't drunk.

She's terrified.

And that was heartbreaking.
That was heartbreaking.

- Okay, Nicole.
- Uh-huh?

Just a moment. Does he have any weapons?

I don't know.

Okay.

He went home, and now he's back.

The kids are up there sleeping,
and I don't want anything to happen.

Okay, just a moment.

When you hear O.J.'s
voice, what do you hear?

Rage.

Is he inside right now?

- Yes. Yes.
- Okay, just a moment.

All units, a domestic at
325 Gretna Green Way...

O.J., the kids are sleeping.

Is he upset with something that you did?

Oh, a long time ago. It always comes back.

Has this happened before or no?

Many times.

Okay.

The police should be on the way.

It just seems like a long time

because it's kind of busy
in that division right now.

When she left him for good,
she called me, and she's like,

"Yep, this is it, Robin."

She said, "This is it.
I'm done. I'm done."

She goes, "I don't even... I have no
feeling for him whatsoever anymore.

It's just over."

She was free, and she
was happy without him,

and I think he knew it was really over.

The day she changed, it
was like a light switch.

He spiraled, from that day
on. Everything was different.

Who he was, that persona,
everything was gone.

She wasn't chasing him anymore
and it... it spun him out.

We all believed that right
toward the very end when, uh,

they had split up, after Mother's Day,

that Nicole was not seeing Marcus again.

I absolutely believed that she was.

And O.J. told Nicole,

"You ever see Marcus
again, I will kill you."

This was obviously "I'm...
I'm gonna get back at you, O.J.

I don't care what it takes,
I'm gonna humiliate you."

If she did it,

it was more for her
own personal rebellion,

it was more for her saying to herself,

"I'm gonna date who I want,
I'm gonna go where I want,

I'm gonna be friends
with who I want. I'm free.

You have lost me, O.J. Watch me run."

I think there was something about her

that was almost unattainable to him.

Something that he couldn't quite control.

And I think that that was
part of the attraction.

And I think, in the final analysis,
that's what got her killed.

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