The Hungarian camerawoman who was recently fired for kicking and tripping fleeing Syrian migrants apologized. She was terminated on Tuesday by her company, N1TV, for her actions and they have considered the case settled, according to a previous report by HNGN.
The camerawoman, 40-year-old Petra Laszlo, worked for a politically far-right leaning news company. She responded that while filming she got scared and felt a surge of panic as the migrants who were fleeing from police officers in southern Hungary rushed toward her.
"I was scared as the crowd rushed toward me, and then something snapped in me," Laszlo said in a letter to the newspaper Magyar Nemzet, according to the New York Daily News. "I'm not a heartless, racist, children-kicking camerawoman."
"I do not deserve the political witch hunts against me, nor the smears or often the death threats," she added. "I'm just a woman, and now an unemployed mother of small children, who made a bad decision in a situation of panic. I am truly sorry."
After the video went viral over the internet, people all over the world have been posting angry messages over the incident. The Petra Laszlo Shame Wall has almost 8,000 likes after it was put up on Sept. 9 and she has since tried to defend her actions.
Do you have any new picture of Petra Laszlo or refugees?If you have please send me i will post from this page.
Posted by Petra Laszlo Shame Wall on Thursday, September 10, 2015
"With the camera in my hands, I didn't see who was coming toward me. I just thought they were on the attack and I had to defend myself. It's hard to make good decisions when one is panicking," she wrote, according to USA Today.
In the first video that emerged, Laszlo was seen tripping an old man carrying a young child in his arms. In the second one, the camerawoman can be seen deliberately kicking other refugees, including a young girl. The Syrian migrants were trying to enter Hungarian territory on their way to Austria and Germany.
"I am very sorry for the incident, and as a mother I am especially sorry for the fact that fate pushed a child in my way. I did not see that at that moment. I started to panic and as I re-watch the film, it seems as it was not even me," she added in her letter, CNN reported.
The Public Prosecutor's Office of Szeged will further investigate the journalist for more serious offenses.
Watch the video below:
