Suicide on live TV prompts Fox News apology
Video supposed to have 10-second delay
The Associated Press
Posted: Sep 29, 2012 12:48 PM ET
Last Updated: Sep 29, 2012 12:47 PM ET
In this video screen shot, a vehicle involved in a police car chase is followed on an interstate highway by a television station helicopter west of Phoenix on Sept. 29. (Fox 10 News/Associated Press)
Authorities in Phoenix, Ariz., have yet to release the identity of a man who fatally shot himself in the head on live television at the end of a high-speed police chase.
Fox News had been covering the chase, which began in Phoenix about midday Friday, using a live helicopter shot from a local TV station.
TV footage showed the man exiting the four-door sedan and running erratically in a field before putting the gun to his head and firing. He then fell to the ground.
The man was declared dead at the scene, according to Phoenix police spokesman Sgt. Tommy Thompson.
'That didn't belong on TV.'—Fox News anchor Shepard Smith
The man allegedly stole a car from a couple at gunpoint outside a Phoenix restaurant just before 11 a.m. MST, Thompson said.
Anchor apologizes
Fox News anchor Shepard Smith told viewers that the video was supposed to be on a 10-second delay.
"We really messed up, and we're all very sorry," Smith said.
Fox also apologized for showing the violence on air.
"We apologize for what viewers ultimately saw on the screen," said Michael Clemente, executive vice president of news editorial at Fox.
After the man shot himself, Smith was seen on camera shouting "get off, get off, get off, get off."
Smith apologized repeatedly following the commercial break.
"That didn't belong on TV. We took every precaution we knew how to take to keep that from being on TV and I personally apologize to you that that happened," he said.
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