Isaac Scher and other protesters had squared off against a line of Los Angeles police officers in Echo Park late Wednesday night when he heard a police commander give the order to advance.

As the officers lurched forward in unison, Scher said the cop opposite him lashed out with baton strikes that seemed fueled by “a blind fury that was horrifying.”

They were like “baseball bat swings,” Scher alleged in an interview with The Times on Thursday. “Full windup, as if it were a 70 mph fastball down the middle.”

The broken arm Scher suffered was a rare injury on a largely peaceful night that saw hundreds of officers in riot gear deployed to help disperse a crowd of protesters who had gathered in opposition to a city order aimed at clearing a large homeless encampment from around Echo Park Lake.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.