LAPD launches probe after cop swings billy club 'like a baseball bat' at peaceful protesters

The Los Angeles Police Department has launched an internal investigation into allegations that an officer swung his baton "like a baseball bat" at protesters.

At a Police Commission meeting on Tuesday, one demonstrator pointed out a YouTube video of the Dec. 1 protest in support of slain Missouri teen Michael Brown, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The video shows two or three officers pinning a man to the ground as they prepare to take him into custody. Other officers stand guard with batons to keep protesters away.

Several protesters approach and one of the officers forcefully swings his baton at them at least twice. At that point, a man who appears to be the officer's supervisor touches him on the shoulder, and urges him to disengage.

The woman told commissioners that the officer "took a billy club and swung it like a baseball bat."

"It came within 2 feet of my head," she explained.

Cmdr. Andrew Smith said on Tuesday that a personnel complaint had been filed, and that internal affairs investigators would handle the case.

Watch the video below from KTLA, broadcast Dec. 10, 2014.