Winnipeg Rapper Blames Arrest on Racial Profiling

A Winnipeg rap artist is concerned he may have been the target of racial profiling after police pulled him over, pulled their weapons and accused him of driving a stolen car.

Robert Wilson, a youth worker also known as Grammy-nominated rapper Fresh I.E., said he was driving in downtown Winnipeg with a youth he mentors Wednesday afternoon when several unmarked police cars boxed him in on Donald Street.

"I was actually coming from Starbucks … and the cops just pulled up to my car — almost hit my car — and pulled out their guns on me and told me my car was stolen," he told CBC News.

"They handcuffed the youth that I mentor, they pulled him out of the car and handcuffed him and threw him on the ground.

"It just threw me for a loop. I just couldn't believe it was happening."

Wilson said officers didn't believe he was who he said he was, and told him his car had been reported stolen.

"I said, 'It's my car. It can't be reported stolen,'" he recalled.

"I said, 'Well, I'm Robert Wilson. I'm a youth worker in the city' and stuff. And they told me to shut up and shut the door, and then they came back and said, 'Oh, we made a mistake.'"

Wilson believes he was pulled over because he was a black man driving a Chrysler 300.

"It's a case of stereotyping. Not every black or native man or woman that's out there driving a nice car, you know, is stealing cars," he said.