Gripping account of efforts to save FHP Trooper, truck driver after crash in SLC
ST. LUCIE COUNTY — The driver’s side door of Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Zachary Fink’s vehicle was “caved in” after a crash during a pursuit on Interstate 95.
At least three Port St. Lucie police officers tried to remove Fink, 26, from the damaged automobile after the Feb. 2 incident, but he was trapped.
Fink’s breaths were slow and shallow and he didn’t appear conscious. One officer began CPR through the windshield as two others prepared an automated external defibrillator, which is used to treat cardiac arrest.
Elsewhere, three other officers performed CPR on Arsenio Mas, 55, who’d been ejected from his semi-truck that overturned following the pursuit after which a 30-year-old man was arrested on a host of charges.
These and other details of the events that began about 2:40 a.m. were contained in Port St. Lucie Police records that illuminate the large law enforcement response, including drones, SWAT officials, helicopters from the Martin and St. Lucie County sheriff’s offices, and canine teams, to the incident that closed I-95 for hours.
Ultimately, the injuries sustained by Fink, of Port St. Lucie, and Mas, of Homestead, were fatal. Funeral services for Fink, a three-year FHP veteran, are Monday.
According to officials, the crash happened after Michael Anthony Addison made a U-turn in a Kia Forte and headed north in the southbound lanes of I-95 before exiting at St. Lucie West.
Reports show Addison crashed the Kia in the area of Northwest Commerce Center Drive and Northwest Brandywine Lane, which is just west of I-95 and north of the deadly crash site.
At the scene, a St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office vehicle was on fire, and eventually was engulfed. Officers moved away “after hearing the fire begin to ignite ammunition that was inside the vehicle.”
It wasn’t immediately clear how the sheriff's vehicle caught fire. A message left with sheriff’s spokesperson Tonya Woodworth Friday was not returned.
‘Earlier domestic dispute’
Investigators determined the 2023 Kia Forte was registered to a 19-year-old man with addresses in Pompano Beach and Coconut Creek, to whom police eventually spoke via FaceTime. That person was determined not to be a suspect. FHP got a search warrant for the four-door Kia.
Investigators learned the car was linked to “an earlier domestic dispute out of Pompano Beach.” Addison reportedly had been driving the vehicle, had a gun and threatened his girlfriend, records show. Investigators tracked the vehicle north from Pompano Beach on I-95.
Local law enforcement officials appeared to first encounter the Kia on West Midway Road. A deputy measured the speed of a white Kia — later identified as being driven by Addison — at 60 mph in a 30 mph zone on West Midway Road in the area of White City Park.
The deputy stopped the Kia on West Midway Road west of White City Park. As she exited her vehicle and walked to the Kia, the Kia drove off westbound.
According to records, the Kia ended up going west in the eastbound lanes of West Midway Road at 90 mph before turning to travel south on I-95.
According to an arrest affidavit authored by FHP, Fink at 2:52 a.m. saw the Kia traveling 140 mph on Commerce Center Drive, which is just west of I-95 and southwest of the initial traffic stop.
Along with canine teams, police used a number of drones in their efforts and coordinated with the St. Lucie sheriff’s helicopter. Officials learned the suspect’s phone was “pinging” in the area of the AMC movie theater east of I-95 in St. Lucie West, and they used a drone in that area.
At the time, they reported there was uncertainty of whether an additional person had been in the vehicle.
Reports show “after numerous hours” of intelligence gathering, getting tips and “utilizing all resources,” Addison was taken into custody.
During an interview at the Port St. Lucie Police Department, Addison told a Port St. Lucie Police detective he fled the initial traffic stop because he thought he was wanted for an earlier incident in Broward County, records show.
Funeral plans, flags at half-staff
Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Zachary Fink will be memorialized during a service held at Christ Fellowship Church in Port St. Lucie Monday, Feb. 12 at 11 a.m.
Full line-of-duty death honors will be given during the memorial service. The service is open to the public.
Gov. Ron DeSantis gas directed that flags of the United States and the State of Florida to be flown at half-staff at the St. Lucie County Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles in Port St. Lucie; the St. Lucie County Courthouse in Fort Pierce; and the City Hall of Port St. Lucie, from sunrise to sunset on Monday, Feb. 12.
"Trooper Zachary Fink was killed in the line of duty at the age of 26. Trooper Fink died a hero while protecting his community from danger. Trooper Fink served the State of Florida as a Florida Highway Patrol Trooper with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles for three years. He leaves behind his parents and high school sweetheart, to whom he recently proposed. He lived a life of service and will be remembered for his passion to make his community a safer place," DeSantis wrote in his directive.
More: Wrong-way driving, 140 mph speed preceded I-95 crash that killed FHP trooper, truck driver
Timeline: What led up to the death of Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Zachary Fink?
Will Greenlee is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Will on X @OffTheBeatTweet or reach him by phone at 772-267-7926. E-mail him at will.greenlee@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: New details in crash that left FHP trooper, truck driver dead
