Cowlings Won’t Be Prosecuted, D.A. Decides

Al Cowlings, O.J. Simpson’s best friend who was at the wheel during the famous low-speed pursuit preceding the football great’s arrest, will not be prosecuted for his role in the flight, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office announced Monday.

In a one-line statement, prosecutors explained that “the evidence available to us at this time is insufficient to warrant prosecution” of Cowlings.

He was arrested on suspicion of aiding a fugitive on the same day as Simpson’s capture, and a grand jury has exhaustively examined witnesses in recent months.

Cowlings and Simpson disappeared on the afternoon of June 17, minutes before police arrived at the Encino home of Robert Kardashian, another friend of Simpson, to take the celebrity athlete into custody on charges of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald L. Goldman.

Cowlings and Simpson were spotted late that afternoon headed north on Interstate 5 in Orange County and led police on a slow chase back to Simpson’s Brentwood home. As an estimated 95 million people watched on live television, Los Angeles Police Department SWAT officers talked to Simpson over a cellular phone, persuading him to put down a loaded pistol and give himself up.

Police later recovered about $8,000 and Simpson’s passport from the white Ford Bronco in which the two men were traveling. Simpson’s lawyers have said it was not unusual for him to carry large amounts of cash; they have added that at the time, Simpson was distraught and contemplating suicide, and gave the money to Cowlings with instructions that he use it to care for Simpson’s two young children after his death.

Other sources close to the former football player have said his passport was in the vehicle because he had gathered some personal papers, including the document, in preparation for his surrender.

Donald Re, Cowlings’ attorney, said he was pleased by the decision not to prosecute his client, which had been anticipated but not made official until Monday.

“I think it’s entirely appropriate that they not charge this man,” Re said. “I’m glad that they finally came to that conclusion.”

Re said the threat of charges has been distracting to Cowlings, whose intention all along has only been to help his lifelong friend. In fact, Re has said, Cowlings’ overriding concern on the day of the pursuit was to prevent Simpson from harming himself. Cowlngs’ main objective now, the lawyer added, will be to help Simpson battle the murder charges that could send him to prison for the rest of his life.

With the Cowlings investigation effectively concluded, one of the prosecutors handling it, Christopher A. Darden, will shift to the Simpson case, becoming the sixth deputy district attorney to join the government team.

Darden, 38, is considered one of the office’s most highly regarded prosecutors: He has taken 19 homicide cases to juries and has handled a number of delicate police investigations.