A former Capitol Police officer accused of kicking a handcuffed man and slamming his head during a traffic stop in 2022 has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of violating his civil rights. 

Jeffery Walker, who was a Flex Unit officer, pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of deprivation of rights under color of law – when a person acting with government authority wilfully deprives another of a constitutionally protected right. 

The felony charge carries up to a decade in prison, a $250,000 fine, three years of supervised release and a $100 special assessment. 

He is scheduled for sentencing on April 8 and will remain free until then  on a $10,000 unsecured bond. Plea documents weren’t immediately available Wednesday. 

Walker’s plea comes the day he was set to begin a jury trial. 

On July 27, 2022, Walker drove an unmarked police car and tried to stop a car driven by a man identified as E.S. in court records. The man led Walker on a pursuit, which several Jackson Police Department officers joined. 

The chase ended when Walker cut E.S. off, causing the officer to run into a tree and the man to swerve into a yard. A Jackson police officer pulled E.S. from the car and handcuffed him. 

While the man was under control and handcuffed, Walker slammed E.S.’s head into the hood of his car and kicked him in the head and face while he was on the ground, according to court records. 

Walker also faces state charges for another incident while working for Capitol Police. 

He and Officer Michael Rhinewalt were indicted for aggravated assault stemming from the Aug. 14, 2022, shooting of Sinatra Jordan and Sherita Harris. 

Harris was the passenger in a car Jordan was driving that Capitol Police officers stopped near State and Amite streets. Walker and Rhinewalt were later identified as those who opened fire.

A civil lawsuit Harris filed in 2023 which represents one side of a legal argument, alleges Jordan initially complied with a command to pull over, but then tried to drive away when shots were fired into the car. Gunfire hit Harris in the head and required her to undergo surgery to remove the bullet fragments. She has suffered “permanent neurological and facial injuries,” according to the lawsuit.

Walker and Rhinewalt were expected to start trial Monday. The trial did not take place, and court records do not list an updated trial date. 

Jordan, the driver, was charged in 2023 with fleeing felony law enforcement, assault on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest and possession of marijuana. 

In March, he pleaded guilty to fleeing law enforcement, which was reduced to a misdemeanor, and the other charges were dropped. He received a six-month sentence, and as of Wednesday, prison records do not show anyone under his name incarcerated.  

Harris’ civil lawsuit has been put on hold until the state cases are finished.

Rhinewalt is facing another state charge from his role with Capitol Police.

He and now former Capitol Police Officer Steven Frederick Jr. were indicted for manslaughter in the Sept. 25, 2022, death of Jaylen Lewis during a traffic stop on East Mayes Street. 

They are scheduled to go to trial in Hinds County on Dec. 8. 

The officers, who were conducting a drug narcotics operation, saw the car driven by Lewis turn and then run a red light on another street. They turned on their police lights to pull the 22-year-old over and blocked him from moving forward with their car.  

The former officers reportedly told investigators that one of them shot Lewis in the head in self-defense because he drove his car toward them. 

A federal lawsuit by Lewis’ mother, which represents one side of a legal argument, states he reversed his car and bumped the cruiser behind him, and it states that he did not show a weapon, reach for one, “or take other actions that could be reasonably perceived as endangering officers or others.”