THE SIMPSON MURDER CASE : The News Conferences : Law Enforcement Agencies Scramble to Explain and Deal With Bizarre Events of Day : CMDR. DAVID J. GASCON : The LAPD Is ‘Very Unhappy With . . . His Failure to Surrender’

For Cmdr. David J. Gascon, the day’s briefings began in disaster and ended in triumph.

Shortly before 2 p.m., Gascon, standing ramrod straight, his jaw tightly clenched, addressed hordes of reporters to break the news that O.J. Simpson was wanted for a brutal double murder and was nowhere to be found.

“Mr. Simpson, in an agreement with his attorney, was scheduled to surrender this morning to the Los Angeles Police Department,” Gascon said. “Initially, that was 11 o’clock. Then it became 11:45. Mr. Simpson has not appeared. The Los Angeles Police Department right now is actively searching for Mr. Simpson. The Los Angeles Police Department is also very unhappy with the activities surrounding his failure to surrender.”

Reporters gasped, and Gascon proceeded to guardedly detail the extraordinary tale of a five-day police investigation that resulted in a warrant for Simpson’s arrest and yet allowed the suspect to slip through police grasp.

“We will continue our pursuit of Mr. Simpson,” Gascon pledged, “and hope to have him in custody soon.”

With Police Chief Willie L. Williams in Philadelphia to testify in a case related to his tenure in that department and the rest of the LAPD’s top brass watching from safely beyond the limelight, Gascon gamely praised the work of detectives and scientific staff who had collected and analyzed a wealth of evidence in the case.

He declined to respond to rumors that have swirled around the case from the start. He defended the LAPD against accusations that the department had leaked information to the press, noting that the Police Department’s official comments had never so much as identified Simpson as a suspect.

“Our official comments have been limited to those statements given at the crime scene by Lt. John Rogers . . . comments by Chief Williams and comments that I’ve made,” Gascon said. “Any criticism of the Los Angeles Police Department because of what has been published or broadcast by the media is unfair. We do not control the newsrooms. You and your bosses make very difficult decisions, and we appreciate and respect your judgment.”

Barely had Gascon finished his statement, however, than reporters aggressively began to challenge the Police Department’s performance, shouting over each other in an effort to get the commander’s attention.

“Cmdr. Gascon, didn’t you have a tail on the suspect all the time?” one asked. “Weren’t you watching him constantly?”

Gascon tried to fend off those inquiries, saying the department would decline comment on that subject until investigators completed their work. He did say that police had spoken with Robert L. Shapiro, Simpson’s lawyer, and Gascon made no effort to hide the LAPD’s irritation with him.

“We have expressed our dismay,” he said. “And we have indicated to him that we expect to see Mr. Simpson immediately, if not sooner.”

Gascon denied one reporter’s suggestion that Simpson had been given special treatment, a notion that has been raised because of the decision to allow Simpson to remain at large even as evidence against him mounted. “There is no preferential treatment. There has not been any preferential treatment,” Gascon said.

For proof of that, Gascon suggested that reporters watch the enormity of the police response as officers fanned out to find the missing murder suspect. That process began even before Gascon addressed the press, and by mid-afternoon, finding Simpson was the main preoccupation of Southern California law enforcement. Highway patrol officers, sheriff’s deputies and FBI agents were among the legions who set out in search of the athlete.

“Mr. Simpson is a wanted murder suspect,” Gascon said. “We need to find him, we need to apprehend him. We need to bring him to justice.”

By day’s end, Gascon’s promise had been fulfilled.

A beaming and expansive Gascon addressed a placated media just as Simpson was being booked into police headquarters after a chase that ended with SWAT officers successfully talking the football star into dropping his gun and giving himself up.

This time, Gascon talked of the “magnificent job” performed by LAPD officers and of the personal pride he took in his association with them. The questions were gentler and tempered by bursts of laughter.

Of the day’s events, he reflected: “It’s something that all of us can be very proud of.”