ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — The man accused in the death of St. Johns County Sgt. Michael Kunovich is no longer charged with felony murder.
The State Attorney's Officer has now charged Vergilio Aguilar-Mendez with aggravated manslaughter of an officer, downgrading his original charges.
This means that Aguilar-Mendez is accused of causing Kunovich's death through negligence or disregard for human life. While it carries a lesser sentence, a manslaughter charge means that prosecutors no longer need to prove that Aguilar-Mendez killed Kunovich intentionally.
Mendez is also charged with resisting an officer with violence, accused of resisting all five officers that were on scene that day.
What happened to Michael Kunovich?
On the day he died, June 22, Kunovich was patting Aguilar-Mendez down for weapons, police say. Mendez attempted to flee the scene and attempted to grab Kunovich's taser. A 6-minute struggle ensued.
Once Aguilar-Mendez was handcuffed, police said he pulled out a pocket knife, which deputies were able to take away from him.
Just minutes later, Kunovich experienced "medical distress" and collapsed. Officers on the scene attempted CPR.
When Kunovich arrived at the hospital, he was pronounced dead.
St. Johns County Sheriff Robert Hardwick said Kunovich "succumbed basically to some medical issues that were induced by the struggle with our subject."
