Three years after 25-year-old Jaylen Lewis died following a traffic stop in Jackson, his mother, Arkela Lewis, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, the Mississippi Capitol Police Department and several officers.
Law firm DiCello Levitt, along with Rogers Law Group, filed the federal civil rights lawsuit on Sept. 24 on behalf of Lewis’ mother and family. The lawsuit alleges that officers Steven Randolph Frederick, Jr. and Michael Rhinewalt—who were both working as Capitol Police officers—used “excessive and unjustified force” by shooting Jaylen Lewis on Sept. 25, 2022. The lawsuit says Lewis “posed no threat to officers or the public.”
The lawsuit comes months after a grand jury indicted Frederick, Jr., and Rhinewalt on manslaughter charges in April. The charges alleged that they “acted willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously, without malice, without authority of law and not in necessary self-defense,” when Lewis suffered a gunshot wound during a traffic stop, a true bill document alleged.
The true bill document does not say which officer shot Lewis, but adds that at least one of the officers said they acted under the “belief that such killing was necessary to protect himself from great bodily harm or death at the hands of Jaylen Lewis.”
However, the grand jury found that “such belief by Steven Randolph Frederick Jr. and
Michael Lamar Rhinewalt was not a reasonable belief under the circumstances,” the indictment continued.
In an April 15 statement regarding the grand jury indictment of Rhinewalt and Frederick, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety said that “Frederick resigned from the Mississippi Department of Public Safety in March 2023 shortly after being involved in a traffic accident while off duty.”
“Rhinewalt has been on administrative leave without pay and has not been actively employed with the agency since January of 2025,” the statement continued.
‘Calling for Accountability and Change’
Jaylen Lewis’ family seeks compensatory and punitive damages, as well as court-ordered reforms to ensure the Capitol Police adopt and enforce policies that prevent future tragedies, a Sept. 29 press release from DiCello Levitt states.
At the time, the Department of Public Safety did not require Capitol Police officers to wear body cameras. The agency released new use-of-force guidelines in 2023, NBC News reported.
“Jaylen Lewis should be alive today,” said DiCello Levitt Partner Bobby DiCello, who is
representing the Lewis family. “The actions of these officers were not just reckless—they were
unconscionable and indefensible. Jaylen was a devoted father with his whole life ahead of him, and his family deserves justice. We are committed to fighting for accountability, transparency,
and meaningful reform, so that no other family in Jackson has to endure this kind of heartbreak.”
The lawsuit states that officers pulled over a white Jeep Cherokee that Lewis was driving on the night of Sept. 25, 2022, when they witnessed him run a red light. An unnamed woman sat in the passenger seat.
After pulling over Lewis’ vehicle on the side of the road, the officers approached on foot, the lawsuit said.
“At or around the same time, Jaylen reverses the white Jeep Cherokee and bumps into the front of the police cruiser that is positioned behind the vehicle. Upon information and belief, after bumping into the front of the police cruiser, Jaylen does not brandish a weapon, reach for a weapon, make any violent gestures, threaten anyone, or take any other actions that could be reasonably perceived as endangering officers or others,” the lawsuit continues.
“Despite not observing any conduct that could reasonably be perceived as endangering officers or others, Defendant(s) Frederick and/or Rhinewalt draw their guns and open fire into the white Jeep Cherokee, shooting Jaylen in the head, killing him,” the lawsuit alleges.
Lewis suffered a gunshot wound to the head during the Sept. 25, 2022, traffic stop and died the next day at the hospital.
Capitol Police Chief Wesley “Bo” Luckey is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, as well as 10 other unnamed officers. Jaylen Lewis’ mother, Arkela Lewis, filed the complaint on the basis of three allegations: that the officers Frederick and Rhinewalt used excessive force; that Luckey is liable because he was their supervisor at the time; and that DPS and the Capitol Police are liable for constitutional violations.
The lawsuit alleges that Luckey “knew or reasonably should have known of, participated in, endorsed, condoned, and/or ratified the unconstitutional conduct of his subordinates, Defendants Steven Frederick, Jr. and Michael Rhinewalt.”
Both DPS and the Capitol Police Department fostered “a culture of violence as they expressed support for Defendants Rhinewalt and Frederick’s actions regarding the death of Decedent, imposed no discipline on them,” the lawsuit alleges.
Lewis pleaded during a 2022 interview with WAPT for more details about what happened to her son that night.
“I just want to know what happened. I want to know, were the lights pulled on when you pulled my baby over? What was he doing?” she said.
The Mississippi Free Press contacted Arkela Lewis for comment on this story. She deferred instead to her legal representation.
Caitlin Whitehurst, director of communications at DiCello Levitt, sent a statement to the Mississippi Free Press on behalf of the family.
“We simply want justice for Jaylen,” the DiCello Levitt law firm said. “We feel the pain of his loss every day, and we are calling for accountability and change, so that what happened to Jaylen never happens again.”
Capitol Police Expansion Controversial
State lawmakers began expanding the jurisdiction of the Capitol Police Department from beyond the boundaries around the Capitol Building to greater Jackson in 2023. The law faced legal hurdles with some residents as well as members of the NAACP suing to block its inception, alleging that the law allowed the majority-white state lawmakers more power over residents in the majority-Black city of Jackson.
Capitol Police now has concurrent jurisdiction with the Jackson Police Department over the entirety of the city of Jackson.
Within the year after the department expanded its jurisdiction, Capitol Police officers shot four people in the commission of different traffic stops—including Jaylen Lewis, NBC News reported on March 3, 2023.
Rhinewalt also faced accusations of using excessive force after he allegedly shot Sherita Harris in the head during a separate traffic stop about a month before Lewis’ death. She survived and filed a $3-million civil complaint against the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, Mississippi Capitol Police and the Rhinewalt and Officer Jeffrey Walker on Dec. 20, 2023. The Mississippi Attorney General’s Office announced charges against the officers in January 2025.
The Mississippi Free Press reached out to the Department of Public Safety for comment on this story. DPS Media and Public Relations Specialist Bailey C. Martin responded with the following statement: “We have not yet had the opportunity to review the claims, and the Mississippi Department of Public Safety does not comment on pending litigation.”
