John Langley of COPS Racing from San Diego, California, dies racing in the Baja racing classic local race, the Ensenada-San Felipe 250.
CLICK HERE FOR CONTINUED REPORTING ON THE CONFLICT WITH ROGER NORMAN AND SCORE INTERNATIONAL; BajaRacingNews.com
Dateline Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. Reported Sunday, June 27, 2021. Gary Newsome, Publisher
Strangely enough, Mad Martelli Media is reporting John Langley was in ill health at the time of his "apparent" heart attack. As though they needed to over-assert and tell their readers that off-road racing didn't take Johns life.
Original reporting: The creator of the world-wide smash-hit television show, "Cops", John Langley, died racing today, Saturday, June 26 in the 24th edition of a local race, the 'Ensenada-San Felipe 250', reportedly due to a heart attack, owner of the 'Record' racing association, Ramón Castro, said Saturday.
John Langley was participating in his second running of the Record Off-Road Series championship race with his son Zak, fighting for the overall lead in the Open Class aboard his 50th Baja Truck, suffering a heart attack at the height of the famous Baja racing location the San Matías Pass.
Reportedly, John was treated by medical personnel at kilometer 77 on the Ensenada to San Felipe highway, Mexico Number 3.
More details of the events that transpired on Saturday, June 26 are being compiled at the finish line of the race, San Felipe by Baja Racing News LIVE! of Ensenada, Baja California and will be reported as they come in to our offices.
Holder of a coveted 'Star' on the 'Hollywood Walk of Fame', John became an off-road racing enthusiast for more than 10 years, winning the Baja 1000 and Baja 500, in class wins, several times with the Cops Racing team.
The experienced Baja racing pilot was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1943. John was reportedly 78 years of age at the time of the tragic events yesterday, near the Baja norte agricultural village of Valle de Trinidad.
COPS Racing and John Langley, reportedly, was fighting a legal lawsuit with Roger Norman of San Diego and Reno, Nevada. Norman, the owner of 'Score International', a company that recently rejected COPS Racing team from participating in Mexico racing events operated by Normans sanction of ill repute.
John and his teams were running in yesterdays proceedings by the RECORD racing association of Ensenada, a choice John said was becoming a greater life experience than participating in "Rogers Death Races of SCORE International".
John Russell Langley was an American television and film director, writer, and producer who is best known as the creator and executive producer of the long-running television show Cops, which premiered on Fox in March 1989. He died yesterday, in Baja Mexico, at age 78.
Recently, as an off-road team owner and racer, Podio Media of Ensenada said of John Langley's passing, "His departure fills his family, friends, team and the world of off-road racing in general with mourning. His personal support of Mexican Baja racing teams, on several occasions to race in Score International, as was the case of René Rodríguez, from Ensenada, who won the title of Class 11 for Cops Racing, is a testament to him as a wonderful person, may he rest in peace".
SEE BELOW A VIDEO OF THE PROCEEDINGS ON SATURDAY
BajaRacingNews.com
Baja Racing News LIVE! Breaks Racing News... Our reporter on the race track and at the finish line in San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico had the story first and is now following up his leads on what happened in Baja Mexico on Saturday at the Ensenada to San Felipe local race event.
*Jeremy Fuster got it right the first time! CLICK HERE FOR THE STORY ON 'THE WRAP'*
"John Langley, ‘Cops’ Creator, Dies at 78 Ride-along show was a three-decade reality TV hit but was criticized for creating a skewed portrayal of police. By: Jeremy Fuster | June 27, 2021 @ 10:16 AM
Photo of John Langley, Cops creator. Langley Productions; John Langley, creator of the hit reality show “Cops,” died of an apparent heart attack while racing in the Ensenada-San Felipe 250 in Mexico, according to media reports. Langley was 78.
“Langley was participating in his second running of the Record Off-Road Series championship race with his son Zak, fighting for the overall lead in the Open Class aboard his 50th Baja Truck, suffering a heart attack at the height of the Baja racing location, San Matías Pass,” Baja Racing News LIVE! reported. Off-road racer and Langley’s Cops Racing Team member, Steve Hengeveld, paid tribute to his friend: “Thank you for believing in me and allowing me to be part of your family on Off-Road and treating me like I’m your family. I will never forget you. Forever in our hearts. Rest In Peace .”
Created as an alternative to scripted programming during the 1988 writers strike, “Cops” became a hit show on Fox, following police in departments across the country in ride-alongs and earning four Emmy nominations during its early years. The show ended its run on Fox in 2013 and moved to Spike, now known as the Paramount Network, while finding a heavy presence in syndication. The show’s reggae theme song, “Bad Boys” by Inner Circle, became one of the most famous TV show themes of all time, particularly after its fame was elevated by Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in the “Bad Boys” film series. But “Cops” also faced strong criticism from police reform and abolition advocates for creating a skewed portrayal of police controlled by the very departments it depicted. The 2019 podcast “Running From Cops” investigated the inner workings of the show, revealing how suspects who were arrested on-camera were coerced into signing waivers allowing them to be shown on TV while police were given free rein to cut out any footage that depicted officers in a negative light.
While the show is still filming to fulfill overseas TV contracts, Paramount Network decided to cancel “Cops” in June 2020 amidst scrutiny over depictions of police in media brought by the Black Lives Matter protests. Despite the controversy of “Cops,” Langley is regarded as one of the forefathers of reality television, as “Cops,” along with shows like “The Real World,” helped establish both the mass popularity of the format as well as its ability to fill network programming gaps at a much lower cost than scripted shows. Through “Cops,” Langley also helped popularize the cinema verite style of filmmaking that would become the key visual style of not only the ride-along police show but TV documentary and news filmmaking as a whole. Alongside production partner and fellow “Cops” creator Malcolm Barbour, Langley developed his show’s style starting with the 1983 indie short doc “Cocaine Blues,” which explored the drug trade, and later with the 1986 TV documentary “American Vice: The Doping of a Nation,” which featured three live arrests.
During the latter half of “Cops” run on TV, Langley said in a New York Times interview that his views on law enforcement and justice had greatly changed since he first started filming the police in the 80s. While he denied claims that “Cops” was exploiting the people it filmed being arrested, he felt that America should move towards a philosophy of rehabilitative justice. “When I first went into this business, I thought, well, if they commit a crime, they should do the time,” Langley told NYT in 2007. “A lot of our attention is dedicated to arresting people who have drug problems when the real solution may be to rehabilitate them. We’re asking police officers to solve social issues, and that’s not their job.”
**VARIETY PUBLISHES ITS NOTICE 12 HOURS AFTER THE INITIAL REPORTING FROM MEXICO
**DEADLINE PUBLISHES ITS NOTICE 12 HOURS, FIFTEEN MINUTES AFTER
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