A Detroit graffiti artist has called on Detroit Police to make some changes within their department after his controversial arrest on the northeast side.

Ironically, this all happened because he was doing the work he was commissioned to do by the city of Detroit.

“I’m a muralist, I’m an artist. This is my entrepreneurship, this is my life. They stopped that day for me, man,” Detroit artist Sheefy McFly said between tears.

He was overcome with emotion after two Detroit Police officers handcuffed and arrested him while he was working on a mural for the city.

McFly says he was racially profiled.

“When I’m doing a mural on 7 Mile and John R, they’re looking at me like ‘this is a black man doing graffiti,'” said McFly.

The 29-year-old said officers mistakenly thought he was vandalizing a viaduct on the city’s northeast side. However, his work is part of the City Walls project – an effort to combat illegal graffiti with city-sanctioned artwork.

“I was trying to tell them but they weren’t listening. They were acting like I was a criminal,” said McFly.

But police tell a different story than McFly. They say he was being unruly and did not have his permit on him. They also said he tried to leave the scene, so they put him in handcuffs.

A city official went to the scene and confirmed he was working on their behalf, but he was arrested for having an outstanding traffic warrant and now also faces resisting and obstructing charge.

“The city is paying me to do this, and I’m going to jail for it? It was a literal oxymoron,” said McFly.

McFly still has to go to court to face those charges, but he says he’s hopeful they will be dropped.