An illegal immigrant from Guatemala faces manslaughter charges after a Florida sheriff’s deputy suffered a fatal heart attack during a May scuffle with the 18-year-old in St. Augustine.
Interest in the legally complicated case increased this week after Virgilio Aguilar-Mendez retained a civil rights attorney who claims he was wrongfully stopped before an encounter that led to the death of St. John Michael Kunovich.
Aguilar-Mendez entered the US illegally through the southern border last year at the age of 17 and eventually made his way to St. Augustine to work on the farm, according to court papers.
Kunovich, a 52-year veteran officer, first saw the laborer in the parking lot of a Super 8 motel around 9 p.m. on May 16.
According to the arrest report, the teenager began walking away from the area after he saw Kunovich approaching in his marked cruiser.
St. District Sergeant Johns Michael Kunovich died after a fight with Aguilar-Mendez. St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office Johns
“He called him to just say ‘Hey, why are you on this property trespassing?'” Sheriff St. Johns County Robert Hardwick said during a news conference about the case last month. “That was an easy thing, an easy task.”
Bodycam footage of their interaction revealed Aguilar-Mendez’s limited English.
“When you see me, you walk away,” Kunovich can be heard telling her, before Aguilar-Mendez apparently refers to “drinking” somewhere nearby.
Virgilio Aguilar-Mendez — who told Kunovich he doesn’t speak English — works on a farm in St. Augustine. Police via News4Jax
Kunovich then asked for identification and his name.
“Sorry, I don’t speak English,” he replied.
The exchange became tense after Kunovich turned him over to check the weapon, placing his hand in one of his pockets.
The teenager — who later said he feared deportation for stopping — appeared to pull away from Kunovich at that point, prompting the deputy to raise his voice.
“Don’t get away from me,” she yelled.
Kunovich, a veteran officer, is survived by two sons. St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office Johns
“No, no, sorry, sorry,” replied the migrant as he tried to leave the scene.
Additional officers arrived and struggled to subdue Aguilar-Mendez on the ground.
He continued to fight despite being pinched several times, according to the arrest report.
“While struggling on the ground with Sergeant Kunovich and other deputies, the defendant grabbed Sergeant Kunovich’s taser in an attempt to gain control of the weapon,” the document states.
“After overpowering and placing the defendant in handcuffs, he armed himself with a folding pocket knife, which he took from his shorts pocket. The deputy gave strong verbal commands to drop the knife, which was ignored and the knife had to be forcibly removed from the defendant’s hand.”
After Aguilar-Mendez was handcuffed, Kunovich collapsed at the scene of a heart attack and later died at a local hospital.
Police said Aguilar-Mendez resisted arrest for six minutes. Police via News4Jax
Aguilar-Mendez was charged with aggravated manslaughter of an officer and resisting arrest with violence and remains in jail without bond.
In a motion seeking a bail package, his previous public defender wrote that he was staying in a room at the Super 8 with other immigrants and was calling his mother when Kunovich approached him.
The lawyer insisted he did not know why he was stopped and called for his family during the struggle.
The new immigrant’s attorney, Philip Arroyo, told Action Jax last week that he believes his client’s civil rights have been violated, calling the situation a “gross injustice.”
But Hardwick has defended his officers’ actions, insisting that Aguilar-Mendez’s refusal to comply sparked the tragedy.
Officials from Florida and beyond attended Kunovich’s funeral in May in Jacksonville, including his two sons.
“What a lot of people don’t know is how proud we are of him, his hard work and his moral compass,” said his son, Michael Kunovich Jr., according to the Florida Times-Union. “He has an uncanny ability to come home after a long transition and be a Dad.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
