An 18-year-old Guatemalan migrant is now facing a charge of aggravated manslaughter of an officer after a Florida deputy died from a heart attack while arresting the teen for walking through a parking lot.
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Bodycam footage from the tragic incident has also been recently released, showing how the entire incident went down involving the young man who speaks little English and did not understand what was happening and why he was being arrested.
It’s reported that the confrontation occurred on May 19 around 9 p.m. in a Super 8 motel parking lot on Florida 16 in St. Augustine, Florida. The deputy, identified as 52-year-old St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Michael Kunovich, saw the young man, identified as 18-year-old Guatemalan migrant Vergilio Aguilar Mendez, in the parking lot, “looking suspicious,” according to the arrest report.
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After determining Aguilar Mendez was “suspicious,” the Florida deputy walked over and began to question him, but the report noted that it wasn’t a call for service. After the deputy attempted to perform a pat down search on the teenager, he resisted and a struggle began. Soon enough, other deputies arrive at the scene and a taser is then employed in an attempt to control the teen.
During the struggle, Aguilar Mendez reached for the taser to try and stop the deputies from harming him. According to the report, the teen was handcuffed but still managed to grab a folding pocket knife from his shorts pockets, which led to deputies disarming him, but during the process, Kunovich collapsed from medical distress.
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The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office said that the physical struggle lasted about 6 minutes and that at least three deputies had to restrain the teen, who was described as 5-foot-4 and 115 pounds. Court records show that the Florida deputy’s cause of death was a heart attack and subsequently, the 18-year-old Guatemalan migrant that he tried to arrest for walking in a parking lot is now facing a manslaughter charge.
As for Aguilar Mendez, he has since retained legal counsel, who revealed that he has no prior criminal convictions and no prior arrests as a juvenile or an adult. If bond is permitted and posted in his case, the teen will be taken into federal custody to resolve a pending immigration hold. His next hearing is scheduled for December 22.
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