Fox News shows suicide on live air (video)

Fox News and its viewers got a lesson in the perils of live television Friday afternoon when a driver chased by police emerged from a car and fatally shot himself in the head.

According to Washington Post, the episode was the rare instance in which a TV newscast showed an act of violence live. Most stations use delays of live broadcasts to avoid showing scenes that might be upsetting to their viewers.

Fox aired images, taken from a news helicopter, of the man running from the car, then stopping and apparently raising a gun to his head. He then collapsed.

The cable network immediately cut away from the incident outside of Phoenix and went to a commercial. Anchor Shepard Smith came back minutes later and offered a lengthy apology. “That didn’t belong on TV,” he said in part. “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. . . . I’m sorry.”

The network had a five-second delay on the helicopter feed of the chase but was unable to use it in time due to “severe human error,” Michael Clemente, executive vice president of news editorial, said in a statement. “We apologize for what viewers ultimately saw on the screen.”

The man was declared dead at the scene, according to news reports.