Where Would L.A. Be Without Al Cowlings?

Twenty Years Ago, He and His Ford Bronco Saved O.J. Simpson’s Life. The Trial That Followed Changed Us All.

Twenty years ago this month, Al Cowlings drove his friend—the football star, broadcaster, actor, and soon-to-be-accused murderer O.J. Simpson—around the freeways of greater Los Angeles in a white Ford Bronco, trailed by police and with our entire state and nation watching. Ever since June 17, 1994, Southern California, for better and for worse, has not been the same.

In its two decades as a touchstone of American culture, the Simpson case has been an enduring platform for shamelessness and hypothetical thinking—the most notorious example being O.J.’s 2006 confessional, If I Did …