(DailyAnswer.org) – A suspect charged with aggravated manslaughter over the death of a police officer in May 2023 has been released. Virgilio Aguilar-Mendez, 19, was initially charged with resisting arrest and the felony murder of a police officer before the charges were downgraded to aggravated manslaughter of a police officer. In the incident, Sergeant Michael Kunovich of St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office in Florida, died from a heart attack shortly after officers entered a scuffle with the suspect. Charges against the suspect were dropped in February.
The incident unfolded at around 9 pm on May 16 when Kunovich saw Aguilar-Mendez in the parking lot of a Super 8 motel. Bodycam footage showed the officer treating the Guatemalan’s behavior as suspicious and getting increasingly agitated as Aguilar-Mendez went to turn away from him. The confrontation then escalated further as the migrant, who apologized for his limited comprehension of English, reached into his pocket. Several officers, some of whom knew Spanish, fought to apprehend the suspect.
During the struggle, Aguilar-Mendez could be heard screaming as he was tased multiple times before being held in a chokehold. Officers took a pocketknife from Aguilar-Mendez, which the migrant claimed was for cutting watermelon. The Guatemalan had been working on a farm. Aguilar-Mendez reportedly also has a limited understanding of Spanish and speaks the indigenous Guatemalan language of Mam as his first language. His legal team argued that he was not fit to stand trial due to his very limited use of language.
An autopsy report revealed that Kunovich’s arteries were 25-75% blocked at the time of the arrest and that he had scar tissue consistent with a heart attack. The report concluded that he could have had a heart attack before the confrontation with Aguilar-Mendez. Phillip Arroyo, the Guatemalan’s lawyer, argued that his client was a victim of police brutality and that the arrest should not have happened in the first place. He noted the aggressive tone used by Kunovich and that this was unlike “hundreds” of other cases he had handled in which the police officer approached and questioned the suspect calmly and courteously.
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