The cable news channel was playing live footage of the pursuit when the suspect leapt out of his car and began running away down a dirt track.

As producers and viewers watched, the man staggered away from his vehicle, ran a short distance into the grass and then produced a gun.

Shephard Smith, Fox News's afternoon anchor, was providing a running commentary as the suspect lurched away from the vehicle and viewers could hear his producers gasping in horror as the man shot himself.

Mr Smith shouted "get off it, get off it" as it became clear the man intended to kill himself but the station did not cut away in time and broadcast the suspect crumpling to the ground.

Fox went to a commercial break and when it returned to the studio a visibly shaken Mr Smith apologised to viewers, saying "that didn't belong on TV".

"We see a lot of things that we don't let get to [the viewers] because it's not time appropriate, it's insensitive, it's just wrong and that was wrong and that won't happen again on my watch. And I'm sorry," he said.

Mr Smith said that the network had put the footage on a five-second delay after the suspect left his car but it appears that the non-delayed version was broadcast live.

In the footage of the broadcast, Mr Smith appears to react to the shooting several seconds after it had already happened, suggesting that he was looking at a delayed feed but the public was watching live.

No details of the man's identity were immediately available.

US networks often play car chases live on screen but this latest incident may spark demands for a reform of the policy.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9575413/...