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Sergeant Michael Kunovich self-initiated a call for a suspicious hispanic male. The young man was 18 yro Virgilio Aguilar Méndez a Guatemalan farm worker in St. Augustine, FL. Méndez is an indigenous Guatemalan who speaks a language called Mam and speaks some Spanish and no English. Kunovich called for backup but not a translator as he asked Mendez where he was going, and what he was doing. Méndez attempted to answer his questions and despite his obvious confusion, Kunovich chose to aggressively search Méndez, take him to the ground using force including a choke hold, and tasered him roughly 6 times in 2 minutes. In the full body camera video, Méndez can be heard screaming in pain saying over and over again that he's sorry. A few minutes after Méndez was placed in the back of the patrol car Sergeant Kunovich collapsed and was taken to a hospital where he later died. Although this was ruled death by natural causes by the state medical examiners the St. John’s County Sheriff’s Office and the Office of the State Attorney for the 7th Judicial Circuit of Florida charged Méndez with aggravated murder, which is punishable by life in prison. Méndez has been sitting in prison since May of 2023. He currently is considered incompetent to stand trial as the judge has deemed him unable to understand the American legal system or participate via English or Spanish. Do you think Méndez should have his constitutional rights protected? Or do you think these charges should stand? Let me know your thoughts below and remember we will be back with a full Police Accountability Report as soon as we are done with these Mayoral debates in our city-- please wish us luck! Hope to see you soon, and as always be safe out there--Taya The Real News is an independent, viewer-supported, radical media network. Help us expand our in-depth analysis and coverage from Baltimore to Bangladesh by subscribing and becoming a member today! Donate: Sign up for our newsletter: Like us on Facebook: Follow us on Twitter:
