Fox News's Shepard Smith apologises for airing live suicide - video

Fox News's Shepard Smith has apologised to viewers after an alleged carjacker was shown committing suicide on air.

The network screened a live police car chase near Phoenix, Arizona, which ended with the suspect leaving the car, running away and then using a gun to shoot himself in the head.

Watch Shepard Smith's apology below (video does not contain footage of suicide):



Smith can be seen repeatedly shouting "Get off it" in an attempt to prevent the footage from being shown.

When the camera returned to him after a break, he said that there was "some explaining to do".

The news anchor went on to say that there had been a five-second delay "so that if anything went horribly wrong, we'd be able to cut away from it without subjecting you to it".

"And we really messed up," he admitted. "And we're all very sorry. 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 apologise to you that that happened."

He ended by saying: "That was wrong... and that won't happen again on my watch, and I'm sorry."