Rapper Fresh I.E. says he was humiliated when his car was pulled over at gunpoint by Winnipeg police on Wednesday. (CBC)

Winnipeg police Chief Keith McCaskill has apologized to rapper Robert Wilson, who performs under the moniker Fresh I.E., after Wilson was mistakenly pulled out of his car at gunpoint by officers.

"This was our mistake," the chief said at a news conference late Friday. "It was a human error."

McCaskill admitted his officers made an error in their treatment of Wilson but said they drew their weapons as a precaution because of increasing violence officers have faced after confrontations with auto thieves.

Wilson, who is black and also a Christian minister, said he was a victim of racial profiling when he and a 20-year-old passenger were pulled from Wilson's luxury car on Wednesday afternoon.

McCaskill said police officers were at a coffee shop when they saw Wilson's car exit the drive-thru then swing back around quickly and drive past the take-out window again.

The officers decided to check out the licence plate number, and phoned it in to a staff member to run it through a computer. The staffer misinterpreted the information that came up on the screen and reported the vehicle as stolen.

Forgot his coffee

Police followed Wilson downtown and boxed in his car. They had him empty his pockets and placed him in a cruiser car despite protests by Wilson that the car wasn't stolen.

Police eventually heeded Wilson's request to check his identification and registration and learned they had made a mistake. He and the passenger were then released.

McCaskill said his officers became suspicious when Wilson's car turned abruptly back after going through the drive-in. It turns out that Wilson had forgotten a cup of coffee at the coffee shop and swung around the second time to retrieve it.

He said he and a staff sergeant met with both men and apologized Friday.

"We're going to make mistakes in the future [and] we're going to stand up and say we've made a mistake," he said.

Wilson, who says he was humiliated by the incident, was nominated for a rock-gospel Grammy Award in 2005 for his album Truth Iz Fallin' in Tha Streetz.

With files from the Canadian Press