PROVIDENCE — A onetime finalist for state poet laureate is calling for the firing of a Providence police officer, alleging that the officer violated his rights by racially profiling, assaulting, harassing, and falsely arresting him in 2016.

Christopher Johnson, 48, of Providence, is suing the City of Providence and Patrolman Matthew Sheridan over his arrest in May 2016 on charges that were later dismissed. Johnson accuses Sheridan and the city of violating his rights under the Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments by wrongfully arresting him and maliciously prosecuting him. He is seeking unspecified damages and asking the court to order the city to fire Sheridan.

Sheridan, a five-year veteran of the force, is the subject of two other lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court accusing him of assault and false arrest.

Esmelin Fajardo, 31, of Providence, in September sued, accusing him of assault and battery in a 2015 incident. The city said in an email that "the officer involved in this incident was disciplined and re-trained as deemed appropriate by the administration.”

Charm Howie, a former Providence Police Training Academy recruit, sued the city in 2017, alleging that Providence Officers Sheridan and Matthew Place, and Sgt. Patrick Potter, assaulted and wrongfully arrested him in 2015. The city has denied the charges in both cases.

Lindsay Lague, spokeswoman for Providence Public Safety, said Wednesday that Johnson never made a formal complaint with the department, sparking an internal investigation.

According to Johnson's complaint, he was walking home after a music show around midnight May 18, 2016, when a Providence Police SUV driven by Sheridan pulled along side him on Montgomery Avenue. Sheridan demanded his name, to which Johnson responded that he was not required to give his name unless Sheridan had a reasonable suspicion that he had committed or was about to commit a crime.

In the police report Sheridan referred to him as a "'suspect' while feigning concern about his 'well being,'" Johnson's lawyer, Shannah Kurland, wrote. Sheridan got out of his car and grabbed Johnson's arm, prompting Johnson to ask if he was being detained. He says Sheridan said "Why you gotta go do that?" before slamming Johnson into the police car with such impact that it dented a door.

"I know you are a police officer; I know you can shoot me. I have a daughter, I want to live," Johnson recalled saying. Sheridan then introduced the issue of race by telling other officers that Johnson had said "the white cop is going to shoot me," the suit says.

Sheridan brought Johnson to the police station, where he was charged with simple assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct — charges the attorney general's office dismissed in 2017.

Johnson, a spoken-word artist, says he was a finalist for state poet laureate prior to his "illegal" arrest and that someone from the governor's staff told him that the pending charges would impact their selection. He says he has since been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.

The suit accuses the city of sustaining a "long and entrenched pattern and practice of discrimination against Black or African American people" by the Police Department and says that a disproportionate number of use-of-force incidents target the black community. He alleges that department leadership rarely sustains civilian complaint, which amounts to "acquiescence of misconduct by Providence Police."

The complaint says that Johnson, Howie and Fajardo met with Public Safety Commission Steven Paré and Police Chief Hugh Clements "in an attempt to resolve the problem of Defendant Sheridan's dangerous and erratic behavior," but that they failed to take any action. They delivered to Mayor Jorge Elorza, too, a petition calling for Sheridan to be fired to which there was no response, the suit says.

A spokesman for Elorza did not immediately return an email seeking comment Wednesday.