Guatemalan immigrant SMILES as he's freed from jail after being declared 'incompetent' to face charges for his role in scuffle with Florida cops where one deputy died

A Guatemalan migrant who spent ten months in custody accused of killing a longtime Florida cop has been freed.

Virgilio Aguilar Mendez, 19, was arrested in May 2023 after he was approached by officers and one deputy suffered a fatal heart attack amid a struggle to detain him. 

Sgt. Michael Kunovich, an officer of 25 years with the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office in St. Augustine, Florida, keeled over during the chaos. 

The 7th District State Attorney's Office deemed farmworker Aguilar Mendez 'incompetent' to stand trial partly due to the language barrier and dismissed the charges against him. 

It comes as a 'migrant crime wave' sweeps the country thanks to hundreds of thousands of people illegally crossing the border each month. 

A Guatemalan migrant who spent eight months in custody accused of killing a veteran Florida cop has been freed

Virgilio Aguilar Mendez (pictured), 19, was arrested in May 2023 after he was approached by officers and one desputy suffered a fatal heart attack amid a struggle to detain him

Sgt. Michael Kunovich (pictured) an officer of 25 years with the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office in St. Augustine, Florida, keeled over during the chaos

Aguilar Mendez's attorney Phillip Arroyo has released a video of him walking free, and the teen nods and smiles as they stroll out of the police facility together.  

'Recent expert testimony regarding the defendant's inability to comprehend the English language, his cultural background and concerns about his intellectual capacity have raised significant issues to consider in the case,' the state attorney's office said of his release.

'Furthermore, based on the court's recent ruling that the defendant is incompetent to proceed based on that expert testimony, dismissal of the charges is appropriate. Arrest and time served is sufficient.'

Aguilar Mendez was arrested May last year after Kunovich approached him over 'suspicious behavior,' according to an arrest warrant. 

The Guatemalan national, who does not speak English, attempted to walk away from the officer, and a struggle ensued. 

Body cam footage of the arrest shows him interacting with the officer, appearing to tell him that he didn't understand, before slowly edging away. 

Officers throw him to the ground, place him in a chokehold and repeatedly use a taser against him. 

Arroyo told ABC News that minutes after the incident, Kunovich suffered a heart attack and died. 

The 7th District State Attorney's Office deemed farmworker Aguilar Mendez 'incompetent' to stand trial partly due to the language barrier and dismissed the charges against him

Aguilar Mendez's attorney Phillip Arroyo has released a video of him walking free, and the teen nods and smiles as they stroll out of the police facility together

Aguilar Mendez was arrested May last year after Kunovich approached him over 'suspicious behavior', according to an arrest warrant

The Guatemalan national, who does not speak English, attempted to walk away from the officer, and a struggle ensued

His autopsy report concluded he died of natural causes as he suffered with severe heart disease that triggered the heart attack. 

The disease may have been caused by heart and lung deterioration he had due to smoking. 

DailyMail.com has contacted Arroyo for more detail on why he was approached by cops and what will happen to him going forward.  

Some 2,045,838 people illegally crossed the southern border into the US last year, according to CBP figures. 

These figures are expected to swell this year - while the northern border with Canada is also experiencing an unprecedented crisis. 

Illegal crossings from Canada into the US surged 500 percent to 10,021 last year compared with 2022.