Lawsuit against FHP trooper who died in crash that also killed trucker has “gone too far,” family says

The father of the Florida Highway Patrol trooper killed in a head-on crash with a semi truck during an unrelated high speed chase is pushing back on a lawsuit filed by the deceased trucker’s family. 

The lawsuit was filed by the family of trucker Arsenio Mas just after Christmas 2024, claiming that if FHP Trooper Zachary Fink had halted the chase, both of the men would still be alive instead of perishing in the February 2nd, 2024 wreck in St. Lucie County, Florida. 

According to WPTV 5, the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Mas family claims that if not for “Fink’s reckless and/or negligent actions, including driving at an extremely high rate of speed and cutting across all southbound lanes of traffic in hot pursuit of another vehicle, plaintiff Arsenio Mas would not have died.”

“Our client was just driving in his lane of traffic and doing nothing wrong,” Mas family attorney Carlos Silva said. The Mas family alleges that Fink v “disregarded all policies and procedures of the FHP” regarding high-speed chases, and should have let the suspect go instead of endangering other drivers. 

“He violated unfortunately protocol,” Silva said. “We feel bad for him and his family, but we have to take care of our own and what happened here is horrific.”

“I find everything wrong with this lawsuit,” argues Jason Weisser, Attorney for the Fink estate. Weisser argues that Mas disregarded the rules of the road by continuing to drive as if a police vehicle was not pursuing a suspect at a high speed nearby. 

“Does he [Mas} stop? No,” Weisser said. “Does he even slow down? No. He keeps going 70 mph in the left-hand lane.”

Mas eventually collided with Fink head-on when Fink attempted a u-turn trying to follow the suspect he was pursuing. 

“To me, it’s gone too far,” Robert Fink, father of the deceased officer, said. “It’s hard to talk about.”

The Mas family is looking to collect some of Fink’s death benefits, which may be as much as $300,000.