A 26-year-old Florida Highway Patrol trooper was tragically killed early Friday morning while trying to detain a fleeing felon on Interstate 95 in St. Lucie County, authorities said.
Col. Gary Howze II of the FHP said Trooper Zachary Fink, a three-year veteran of the agency, was pursuing a person who was driving a white Kia in a “reckless manner” and speeding on I-95 just before 3 a.m.
Just south of Crosstown Parkway, the Kia attempted to make a U-turn to drive northbound in the southbound lanes to escape the pursuit.
“The driver made an abrupt turn to travel the wrong direction on Interstate 95,” Howze said. “Trooper Fink, in an attempt to continue to apprehend the subject, and to warn unsuspecting motorists of the danger in the area, turned also with the vehicle. And unfortunately, turned into the immediate path of a semi tractor trailer, which struck the left driver’s side of his patrol car.”
The Kia kept going and eventually crashed into a tree less than 2 miles away in the area of Brandywine Lane and Commerce Center Drive.
Howze said the driver took off on foot, triggering a massive, multi-agency manhunt. The driver, who has not been identified, was eventually taken into custody approximately five hours later, just after 8 a.m.
Howze said the driver of the semi in the I-95 crash died at the scene, while Fink was flown to HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.
Aerial video from WPTV Chopper 5 showed the semi on its side and the front of the vehicle badly smashed up. Just feet away, Fink’s FHP cruiser was heavily damaged in the median.
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Source: WFLX
