THE SIMPSON MURDER CASE : Cowlings Seen as a Hero and a Meddler : Friendship: Some say Simpson’s companion saved his life and helped the situation end peacefully. Police say he made a dangerous situation worse.

The man at O.J. Simpson’s side as he threatened suicide and led police on a bizarre, two-county chase--lifelong friend Al Cowlings--was alternately described Saturday as a hero who saved the celebrity’s life and a potentially dangerous meddler who helped him avoid arrest.

Observers ranging from ordinary people to medical experts credited Cowlings--widely known as “A.C.”--with acting as the ultimate friend, possibly risking his own life to prevent Simpson from killing himself or being killed by police.

The nationally broadcast images of Cowlings pleading with police at Simpson’s home impressed many as the culmination of his lifelong devotion to Simpson--the teammate, roommate and soul mate who achieved greater success.

“A.C. is one of the most loyal, trusting friends anyone could have,” said Cowlings’ attorney, Donald M. Re.

“I am absolutely convinced his only effort (Friday) was to make sure that O.J. surrendered alive. I’m very hopeful that the district attorney will take that into account, and will see fit not to bring charges against him,” said Re, who was co-counsel to Howard Weitzman in the John Z. DeLorean case.

Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti on Saturday declined to commit himself, saying that evidence against Cowlings still had to be reviewed. But, he allowed, “there is always a possibility that we would decline to prosecute.”

Cowlings, 47, was taken into custody Friday night and booked on suspicion of aiding and abetting a fugitive. Held briefly on $250,000 bond, he made bail early Saturday and returned to the Pacific Palisades home where he has been staying since January.

A haggard-looking Cowlings refused to be interviewed Saturday, driving reporters away from the house and cursing.

“Please, just stay out of my ------- house,” Cowlings said, emerging in a turquoise T-shirt and jeans. “I have no comment. None.”

When a TV reporter and cameraman approached him, Cowlings took several steps toward them and yelled: “Get that camera out of here!” Then he got inside his white Mercedes-Benz and sped off, in reverse, down the narrow residential street. Cowlings returned about 30 minutes later and knocked another cameraman to the ground, according to the Associated Press.

“You gotta understand,” Cowlings’ host, Darrell Ruocco, said after the first outburst, “he’s under a lot of strain.” Ruocco said he was a friend of Cowlings and Simpson and added: “They’re just stand-up guys.”

Police offered a different view of Cowlings, saying the retired pro football player helped Simpson avoid arrest Friday morning when the two slipped away from the designated surrender point at an Encino house. Later, he injected himself into an extremely volatile situation at Simpson’s Brentwood mansion, police say, when officers had to coax the armed athlete from his truck.

Sgt. Mike Albanese, a SWAT team member and the supervisor of Friday’s lead negotiator, said that when Cowlings emerged from the white Ford Bronco he was “bouncing around the scene” in an agitated state, screaming: “ ‘He has a gun! Don’t do anything!’ ” Officers were reluctant to arrest or restrain Cowlings for fear of setting off Simpson, Albanese said.

Similarly, when Simpson’s adult son unexpectedly bolted from his father’s house and lunged toward the truck--a moment captured on TV--Cowlings shoved the younger man away, prompting officers to fear that the two would get into a fistfight and infuse the scene with even more emotion.

It was all very distracting, Albanese said, and interfered with officers’ ability to directly and calmly connect with Simpson.

“His activities certainly made the situation worse,” said LAPD Cmdr. David Gascon at a news conference after Simpson’s arrest.

After the chase, Cowlings came inside the house and calmed down, and Albanese gave him credit for carrying a new cellular phone out to Simpson when Simpson’s phone battery gave out. In delivering the phone, Albanese said, Cowlings enabled police to continue negotiating with Simpson and he protected them from exposure to the armed and unpredictable suspect.

Among those interviewed Saturday, the prevailing view was that Cowlings had acted courageously and deserved praise, not prosecution.

“I think he saved (Simpson’s) life. I really do,” said a 20-year friend of Simpson who asked not to be named. “And I think a lot of people think that is what a friend would do.”

“I can certainly understand why Al did what he did,” said a Pacific Palisades neighbor who also asked not to be named.

“I would do the same,” said another.

Experts such as Lilli Friedland, a Century City psychologist who serves on the board of the American Psychological Assn., agreed, saying the love of friends and children is often what keeps suicidal people alive.

“Put yourself there,” Friedland said. “One of your best friends in life and someone you admire and think the world of gets accused of a terribly heinous crime, and you may know that at times he hit his wife or whatever . . . and you see him crazed, depressed, super-stressed, distraught over the death--regardless of his role in it, if any--and then you see him talking like his life isn’t going to mean anything.

“Well, what would you do as a truly loving, caring friend?” Friedland asked. “You don’t stop to think, ‘How real is this?’ What you do is say: ‘What can I do to help my friend?’ ”

Cowlings has shadowed Simpson since the two were boys on Potrero Hill, one of San Francisco’s toughest neighborhoods. They played football together at Galileo High School, played and roomed together at USC, and when the two athletes turned professional, Cowlings followed Simpson to the Buffalo Bills and the San Francisco 49ers. Simpson’s first wife, Marguerite Whitley, was originally Cowling’s girlfriend.

As middle-aged men, when Simpson’s success had far outshone Cowlings’, A.C. became something of a bodyguard for O.J. and was a regular visitor at his mansion. At Nicole Brown Simpson’s funeral last week, Cowlings played gatekeeper. And when Simpson slipped out of the Encino safehouse where he was supposed to surrender to police, it was Cowlings who went with him and who would stay with him throughout the long day.

“He may well have saved his life,” said Michael Peck, a psychologist once associated with the now-defunct Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center.

“I seriously doubt that he thought he was committing a crime when he was doing it,” Peck said. “He thought he was helping his friend.”