1. Mediaite
  2. Gossip Cop
  3. Geekosystem
  4. Styleite
  5. SportsGrid
  6. The Mary Sue
  7. The Jane Dough
  8. The Braiser
Advertisement

Fox 10 Phoenix Helicopter Pilot Wishes Car Chase Suspect Dead

video
» 25 comments

For most TV viewers, car chases are fun, exciting novelties, usually on a warm, languid summer day, that can brighten up any notoriously slow August news day. We already know that, at least for Shepard Smith, narrating them is an artform. But for the guys who have to actually follow the cars in the news chopper? Let’s just say being a helicopter pilot can make you quite jaded about this sort of thing.

Yesterday, a car chase in Arizona took the Fox 10 Phoenix team across a number of towns following the suspect and victim of a carjacking until an unsuspecting vehicle crashed into it and stopped the car. On TV, the chase ended as soon as law enforcement officials were able to stop the car– after all, that’s usually where the fun of a car chase dies, unless a suspect is a particularly good runner. This one wasn’t, and, in fact, was taken out on a stretcher suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg.

The chase aired late on the Fox Report, and viewers were told to visit FoxNews.com for the live feed coming in from Phoenix after the show ended. Instead of having the reporters narrate the story, the only people heard on the live feed are those operating the helicopter. As the pilot notices the suspect is being carried out, conscious, on a stretcher, he laments the suspect’s fortune, telling another unseen person on the video, “Eh, if only it would’ve killed him. If only it would’ve killed him first; would’ve been better.” His companion asks him something unintelligible, which, given his response, must have been something hesitant about the fact that he was sad someone had not died. “I don’t care,” he grumbles. The feed then abruptly breaks off, a sign that whoever was in the control room watching the feed was probably not too happy about the response.

There are two clips in the following video. The first is the television broadcast of the end of the chase up until when the report ends. The second is the final minutes of the chase on the internet stream, where the pilot chatter is clearly audible. Watch both below:

Follow us on Twitter.

Sign up for Mediaite's daily newsletter.

Email Twitter Facebook Digg Reddit Stumble Upon Yahoo Buzz LinkedIn Tumblr Delicious
  • http://apostrophejones.com Apostrophe jones

    FOX ! Another word for EVIL . About this , I think the great Calvin Coolidge said it best :

  • timzank

    Apostrophe jones said:
    FOX ! Another word for EVIL . About this , I think the great Calvin Coolidge said it best :

    The guy is a friggin pilot for a local affiliate, not exactly the spokesperson for Newscorp ya schmuck.

  • http://apostrophejones.com Apostrophe jones

    Joke , Tim . Just mocking the lefty wackos on here who foam at the mouth at the mention of
    Fox , Palin , Limbaugh , Cheney ,Bush , etc .

  • marcus.lewis

    I believe before he said I don’t care, the remark from the other male was, “I can’t believe you just said that”.

  • Bootleghaircut

    Poor confused morons just can’t seem to either get or use satire.

    Who knew?

  • notsofast

    Well, I think it’s over the top to wish the guy was killed, but I have seen idiots pull this kind of crap, putting innocent peoples lives at stake in these chases and I had no sympathy for them when on occasion, the cops , let’s say, handled them a little less than delicately than they would have wished when the cops yanked them out of their car.

  • http://apostrophejones.com Apostrophe jones

    Bootleghaircut said:
    Poor confused morons just can’t seem to either get or use satire. Who knew?

    Bootleghorn . Your boss called . You have to work tonight . He wanted me to tell you : ” Them hubcaps ain’t gonna steal themselves , you know “.

  • dummy123

    I agree with the pilot.
    This savage could have easily killed innocent people plowing through that intersection.
    I’d love to know how much prison time he gets….very little I’m guessing.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bob-Fucci/100000114773368 Bob Fucci

    I was almost killed by thieves in a high-speed pursuit a few years back. Yeah, it’s too bad he wasn’t dead.

  • Jimmy Joe Johnson

    The couple carjacked the red car,shot at a cop and endangered lives all across the valley. The world would be a better place without those two.

  • Azarkhan

    ““Eh, if only it would’ve killed him. If only it would’ve killed him first”

    When it comes to the perps of these car chases, I either hope for thumbs down, gladiatorly bloody, excrutiating mangled death
    -or-
    I want the police to do a thorough Rodney King beating on his ass.

    See, I’m looking at it from the point of view of the victim. I think if you’re enjoying a great “warm and languid summer day”, and that day just got fucked up by some asshole, then he oughtta pay some sort of price.

  • Bootleghaircut

    “Well, I think it’s over the top to wish the guy was killed, but I have seen idiots pull this kind of crap, putting innocent peoples lives at stake in these chases and I had no sympathy for them when on occasion, the cops , let’s say, handled them a little less than delicately than they would have wished when the cops yanked them out of their car.”

    Gotta say this comment is on point.

  • Jackie63

    I wish he was dead too.
    One less scumbag to worry about.
    And your point is…?

  • timzank

    Apostrophe jones said:
    Joke , Tim . Just mocking the lefty wackos on here who foam at the mouth at the mention ofFox , Palin , Limbaugh , Cheney ,Bush , etc .

    sorry..I was reading & commenting too quickly!

  • brokenheart

    Jimmy Joe Johnson said:
    The couple carjacked the red car,shot at a cop and endangered lives all across the valley. The world would be a better place without those two.

    Yes and now the tax payers will have to pay for a trial and they will say they are not guilty. Should have killed them or when the cops got them out of the car, cut the camera’s off and beat the crap out of them!

  • Jimmy Joe Johnson

    The driver has been identified : A woman arrested for her involvement in a multiple-city police chase Friday has been identified by authorities as Marcia Quitaro, 25.

    http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/08/07/20100807-phoenix-police-chase-couple-arrest-booked-rbrk.html

    Apparently she was just released from jail, arrested and booked on 7/23/10 for

    * 001 FELONY COUNT OF AGGRAVATED ROBBERY
    * 001 MISDEMEANOR COUNT OF SHOPLIFTING
    * 001 MISDEMEANOR COUNT OF VIOLATION OF PROMISE TO APPEAR
    http://www.jailbase.com/en/arrested/az-mcso/2010-07-23/marcia-marina-quitaro-p681212

    A real piece of work.

  • UncleSam101

    The pilot was just saying what was on his mind. It’s a free country, let him say what he wants. In general people in high speed car chases endanger many lives. What is so bad about the thought that dangerous people lose their own life rather than significantly endangering many other people by repeating dangerous behavior yet again in the future.

  • Cancon1

    Slow news day? This passes for something of importance, anywhere? Pathetic. Somehow, a tiny line can be drawn to Fox and it is front page banner and above the fold. What a hack site.

  • http://none pyrope

    UncleSam101 said:
    The pilot was just saying what was on his mind. It’s a free country, let him say what he wants. In general people in high speed car chases endanger many lives. What is so bad about the thought that dangerous people lose their own life rather than significantly endangering many other people by repeating dangerous behavior yet again in the future.

    Agree Uncle; since when does the helicopter pilot not have freedom of speech?

  • jjpeditor

    “For most TV viewers, car chases are fun, exciting novelties, usually on a warm, languid summer day, that can brighten up any notoriously slow August news day.”

    Wow either you have no life, OR you just explained why most crap coming off the networks is total garbage.

    “We already know that, at least for Shepard Smith, narrating them is an artform.”

    Shepard Smith (and his matching pink ties and politics) and “artform” do not belong in the same sentence.

    Imho, I understand the pilot completely; carjackers are barely lower than members of JournoFist (sic) on the life form totem pole.

    PS to Pyrope and others:

    There’s no freedom of speech guaranteed in private employment. The 1rst Amendment prevents the GOVT from censoring us (and pray Øbowmao doesn’t get to appoint another justice to the SCOTUS or that might go away).

  • lanquihue

    So what’s the big deal? The guy said what most people think.

  • timzank

    lanquihue said:
    So what’s the big deal? The guy said what most people think.

    It’s actually not a big deal. Had it been the pilot for the ABC/NBC or CBS affiliate Frances would not have bothered to write about it. The only reason she wrote about it was because it was a FOX affiliate. She knows how a lot of people “breeze” over headlines and stories and their takeaway from this will be FOX wishing some dude dead. Just a lil’ “hit & run” journalism is all, the AP is famous for it as well.

    Carry on Frances, you are nothing if not consistent.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ed-Durffee/1311278663 Ed Durffee

    For all you sympathizers of this criminal who created the situation that eventually ended in a crash, I want you to think….. Think that the next time one of these fools creates this situation, they end up crashing into your car with your family inside it. I get a bit sick of so called do gooders who only do good for the criminal and to hell with the victims. Do you have any idea how many innocent families come close to dying every day in cities all over this country because some criminal has to get away from Law enforcement? And you come here and whine because one man who has to witness it on a regular basis finally wishes the criminal dies rather than the victims. Remember, the victims in those crashes are your family, now how do you feel?????????

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ed-Durffee/1311278663 Ed Durffee

    Ohhhhh and for the idiot who had to make this about FOX news and Shepard Smith, just how stupid can you liberals really get. Let me ask you something, Just how sure are you that Bush didnt start this whole car chase???? The story is about a car chase and a chopper pilot who is asked to chase the fool for his News Organization, and who lets the world know just how HE feels about it. If you were in his shoes, and this was the tenth or twentyeth time seeing mangled bodies pried out of mangled cars because of criminals actions, maybe you could feel for the victims and the chopper pilot. Im sorry you cant feel the same way, but then you just hate FOX, because they keep the lights on.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Helen-Nordo/100000884291530 Helen Nordo

    The driver who carjacked this car (along with his GIRLFRIEND) great relationship?, will probably go to court, sue due to the “inflammatory” remark the helicopter said..AND, to appease him will buy him his own car, send him to Spain on a vacation & send him to Harvard, free of charge…oh, oh, and the girlfriend will probably do a day stint on “The View” where Whoopie will ask her to tell her shocking story of how the bad helicopter pilot insulted her, wow, wishing them DEAD! Of course, we’re not mentioning the fact that ALL of the media, except Fox, will jump on the bandwagon & get the ACLU, REV.SHARPTON ,& possibly the NAACP, that’s if they were native americans. dum dee dum, what’s next America? a photo op in Playboy of the little lady in Jeans, or perhaps..a discussion at the white house of “How our helicopter pilots should be trained to not act “BADLY) while they are navigating a helicopter in high winds hovering low over a speeding car/cars..be polite, never lose your cool, remember, these are voters..(whoops)..I mean..people & we should have respect for those who find it necessary to “steal a car” remember, these are hard economic times & we should overlook the antics of this young couple, obviously, being ignored by society, with no money at hand. We are in a land where forgiveness should be our motto, perhaps we may lose a few helicopter pilots; however, when you choose poor language, you suffer the consequences. I am providing a grant for all of those would be “car thieves” so that they are not put in such a position that they must resort to such tactics. As far as the pilot, he probably has enough money to survive on..remember..this is the American Way. Two wrongs don’t make a right!” How’s that for a speech from our leader, do you think he will agree, nowadays, nothing shocks me! The new reality is, being bad is good & being good is…laughable. God Bless America

© 2012 Mediaite, LLC | About Us | Advertise | Newsletter | Jobs | Privacy | User Agreement | Disclaimer | Power Grid FAQ | Contact | Archives | RSS RSS
Dan Abrams, Founder | Power Grid by Sound Strategies | Hosting by Datagram