‘Like Cowboys’: Mississippi Capitol Police Indicted for Manslaughter for Shooting Unarmed Black Man In the Head During Traffic Stop
A grand jury indicted two Mississippi Capitol Police officers for manslaughter in the still-murky shooting death of a Black motorist in 2022.
Officers Steven Randolph Frederick Jr. and Michael Rhinewalt acted “willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously, without malice, without authority of law and not in necessary self-defense,” when they shot 25-year-old Jaylen Lewis during a traffic stop, the true bill, obtained by Mississippi Today, alleges.
Lewis and a 21-year-old female passenger were pulled over by Mississippi Capitol Police in Jackson for a traffic stop around 9 p.m. on Sept. 25, 2022, according to a police report.
Frederick and Rhinewalt told investigators that one of them shot Lewis in self-defense after Lewis drove his car toward them. Lewis was shot in the head and died the next day, leaving behind a 4-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son.
According to the indictment filed on March 14, the officers said the killing was necessary to protect themselves “from great bodily harm at the hands of Lewis,” but the Hinds County grand jury concluded that was “not a reasonable belief under the circumstances.”
Upon hearing of the indictment, Lewis’ mother, Arkela Lewis, said, “I could jump for joy.”
She has been trying for three years to find out why her son’s car was stopped by an unmarked police car that night, and what led to the shooting.
“He was a really good kid. … I just want to know what happened. Were the lights on when you pulled my baby over? What was he doing?” she said during a press conference covered by WAPT at New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in 2023, shortly after his death.
Pastor Dwayne Pickett, then speaking for the family, said that according to the unnamed female passenger, an unmarked police car pulled up behind the car that Lewis was driving, with “no blue lights, no identification.”
“He did back up, and according to her, hit a police car or something, but they didn’t know who it was,” Pickett recounted.
Arkela Lewis later said that the woman riding with her son told her that an officer walked toward them with his gun drawn.
“My son screamed out, ‘It’s the police.’ He froze. That’s when the shots were fired.”
The indictment does not say which officer shot Lewis.
According to the Mississippi Department of Public Safety (DPS), Frederick resigned in March 2023 shortly after crashing a state-owned vehicle, when he was charged with DUI. He was then employed by the Scott County Sheriff’s Department, according to Mississippi Today.
Scott County Sheriff Mike Lee said Frederick had been working at his department for about a year when he was notified of the indictment, after which he was suspended without pay. “Steven has been a good employee and worked without any complaints or incidents. We were surprised by the indictment,” Lee said.
Rhinewalt has been on administrative leave without pay and has not been actively employed with the agency since January 2025, DPS said.
Lewis’s shooting death was one of several involving Capitol Police since state lawmakers controversially expanded the agency’s jurisdiction from buildings around the Capitol to all of the city of Jackson in 2023.
The legislation gave all-white state officials control over policing in the 82 percent Black capital city, the Free Press noted. The Capitol Police now work alongside locally elected law enforcement officials and Jackson police.
Arkela Lewis spoke out in 2023 against the state expanding the reach of the Capitol Police, telling legislators, “That terrifies me. It also angers me.”
“They’re like cowboys who are going to come in here and, quote-unquote, clean Jackson up,” said Pickett. “And they’re indiscriminately mistreating the population of color,” said Pickett.
Before his indictment in March, Rhinewalt already faced two aggravated assault charges stemming from a traffic stop a month before Lewis’ death.
Rhinewalt and Officer Jeffrey Walker pulled over a car driven by Sinatra Jordan in August of 2022 after he allegedly failed to stop at a red light. Jordan took off, a police chase ensued, and police shot into Jordan’s vehicle. Sherita Harris, a passenger, was shot in the head.
A Mississippi grand jury eventually indicted Jordan for feloniously fleeing and for shooting at the officers, which he denies.
Harris says her face is now paralyzed. She was never charged with a crime and is suing the two officers for $3 million, accusing them of using excessive force. Her attorney, Carlos Moore, told WJTV he believes Rhinewalt was the shooter.
“This trained officer … shot into a moving vehicle. Could clearly see who was in the vehicle, but there was more than one person. And yet, shot haphazardly into the vehicle, and shot an innocent person out over somebody fleeing a misdemeanor,” said Moore.
A grand jury decided in December of 2024 to indict Rhinewalt and Walker, alleging they “willfully, unlawfully and feloniously” attempted to “cause bodily injury” to both Jordan and Harris.
Meanwhile, state and federal authorities are examining what role Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey may have played in the August dismissal of DUI charges against Frederick, Mississippi Today reported.
Bailey already faces intense scrutiny related to the self-described “Goon Squad” inside his department.
Five former deputies and a Richland police officer pled guilty to the January 2023 attack on two Black men, which included a warrantless forced entry, torturing and sexually abusing suspects, planting evidence, beating and assaulting suspects to coerce confessions (including shooting one in the mouth), stealing property, conspiring to create cover stories and obstructing justice. They were sentenced collectively to a total of 132 years in federal prison last year.
Frederick had been dating Sheriff Bailey’s daughter at the time he was charged with DUI in 2023, when he ran a driver off the road and plowed over three stop signs before stopping in a ditch.
After the incident, Bailey allegedly contacted a prosecutor and asked what would happen if a trooper didn’t appear for a DUI hearing, and was told that if the trooper failed to appear, the case would be dismissed.
That’s just what happened on Aug. 9, 2023, according to Mississippi Today. Trooper Daniel Loftin failed to appear, and a judge dismissed the DUI case against Frederick.
Besides being investigated for interfering with the DUI case, Bailey is also facing a probe by the state auditor for using inmate labor on his mother’s chicken farm.
On April 15, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety (MDPS) released a statement noting that Rhinewalt and Frederick are no longer employed by Capitol Police. It also said:
“To further strengthen accountability, MDPS has established an Internal Affairs Division that operates independently of other agencies within MDPS and reports directly to Commissioner (Sean) Tindell. This division includes dedicated investigators tasked with independently handling complaints of officer misconduct. In addition, Capitol Police officers now wear body cameras and additional policies have been instituted to ensure greater professionalism and accountability.”
“Due to pending civil litigation and the pending criminal case, no further statement will be provided at this time.”