(Updates with identity of suicide, adds details, Phoenix
dateline)
PHOENIX, Sept 29 (Reuters) – Fox News apologized for a
“severe human error” that resulted in viewers seeing a suspected
carjacker fatally shoot himself after a police chase.
The coverage of the Friday incident, which sparked outrage
on social media and a quick on-air apology by anchor Shepard
Smith, showed a man stumbling from an allegedly stolen car into
the desert near Phoenix on Friday.
As a camera in a helicopter provided live coverage, the man
s topped a short distance away, pulled the trigger of a gun
pointed to the right side of his head and crumpled face-forward
into the ground.
“We took every precaution to avoid any such live incident by
putting the helicopter pictures on a five-second delay,” said
Michael Clemente, Fox’s executive vice president for news
editorial.
“Unfortunately, this mistake was the result of a severe
human error and we apologize for what viewers ultimately saw on
the screen,” he said in a statement issued on Friday.
The Phoenix police department on Saturday identified the man
as Jodon F. Romero, 33. Authorities said he fired at officers
and a police helicopter at one point during the pursuit, and
died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
In a statement, the department said Romero had a prior
history of numerous violent crimes. At the time of his death, he
was believed to be wanted on at least one warrant for felony
parole violation on a weapons charge, and may have been sought
on a second warrant.
(Reporting by Colleen Jenkins and Tim Gaynor; Editing by Alex
Dobuzinskis and Eric Walsh)
