ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A body camera video that shows an exchange between a Spanish-speaking teen and a St. Johns County deputy is now getting national attention.
In May, Vergilio Aguilar-Mendez, 18, was accused of trespassing on a property in St. Augustine.
A confrontation between Aguilar-Mendez and Deputy Michael Kunovich turned physical and following a struggle, Kunovich collapsed and later died at a hospital. Aguilar-Mendez is now charged with manslaughter and resisting arrest.
“The escalation by the officer was absolutely uncalled for. The man should have been approached in a respectful, calm manner, not the aggressive manner of the officer,” one News4JAX reader said.
“Why do [law enforcement officers] need to be bilingual? Immigrants, legal or otherwise should learn to speak English,” said another.
Another person, looking for a petition to set Aguilar-Mendez free said “We want justice for Mendez.”
Aguilar-Mendez, who is from Guatemala, was working on a local farm while he was waiting for a court hearing on his immigration status.
That night in May, he was outside his hotel, on the phone, when Deputy Kunovich confronted him. But what’s still unclear is the cause Deputy Kunovich had to approach him, try to search him, and detain him.
News4JAX tried to get answers at a news conference with the St. Johns County Sheriff on Tuesday, but Rob Hardwick’s office said it would not comment.
The only time Sheriff Hardwick spoke publicly about the case was in May during a violence against police news conference.
“You see down in St. Johns County just last Friday night Sergeant Deputy Michael Kunovich was legally out with a person that was at a permanently closed business in the area of 16 and 95. He checked out with him to say simply, ‘Hey, why are you on this property trespassing?’ That was a simple thing, simple task,” Hardwick said. “As the body camera footage will come out and show you, it was by the book, textbook, legal aspect, doing his job to the best of his abilities and duties. And all the suspect had to do was comply instead, the suspect chose to try and remove a knife from the left-hand pocket of his pants, and the struggle was on with Sergeant Michael.”
The video showed there was already a struggle and it’s not until about five minutes into the video that anything was said about a knife.
At one point, Aguilar-Mendez was already handcuffed when deputies got the pocketknife.
Many of the people who watched the video asked how they could help. Aguilar-Mendez’s civil attorneys said they are working with his family to create a GoFundMe and a Change.org petition.
His attorney told News4JAX he is reviewing if a civil lawsuit is possible.