SANTA MONICA - A KTTV television camerawoman filed a claim against the city today, alleging she was attacked and injured by Los Angeles police officers while covering Tuesday's immigration rights rally in MacArthur Park.

Patricia "Patti" Ballaz, 48, filed the claim for an unspecified amount of damages. Ballaz was one of several journalists who were allegedly attacked by riot police who were dispersing crowds at the conclusion of the rally. Video images from the rally show police in riot gear swinging batons and firing foam bullets, knocking protesters and reporters to the ground and even throwing a television camera to the ground.

"That police officer with full force, he's got his baton with the pointed end, and he takes it with full force and jams it forward and hits me in my right breast, which then sends me flying backward and into the ground," said Ballaz, who has worked as a photojournalist for more than 20 years.

Frank Mateljan of the City Attorney's Office said attorneys had not yet seen the claim and could not immediately comment.

A series of investigations into officers' actions are already under way, including two internal LAPD probes, a Police Commission investigation and a preliminary inquiry by the FBI.

Ballaz was badly bruised by an LAPD officer's baton, according to Kathy Pinckert of the Santa Monica law firm Greene Broillet & Wheeler, which is handling Ballaz's case.

Ballaz and KTTV reporter Christina Gonzalez were covering the rally in MacArthur Park from a police-designated area for the media, according to Ballaz's attorney, Browne Greene. Ballaz claims she was hit several times while filming the demonstrators and was eventually knocked down along with her camera.

"Once again, the LAPD has failed to comport itself properly in protecting the public," Greene said. "And as a consequence an innocent person has been injured. If the LAPD had followed its own protocols, this never would have happened. Patti Ballaz was a victim of police brutality for simply being at the right place at the wrong time. Our goal will be to take this case to trial and to hold the LAPD accountable in a court of law."

Ballaz said she suffered a wrist fracture and chest bruises and re- injured an ankle. She said she also has neck and lower-back pain.

"I'm sad about it and I'm scared and I'm angry," she said. "And I want it, I just, I want it to stop and I don't want it to ever happen to anybody else again."

The claim is a mandatory first step before Ballaz can file a civil lawsuit for personal injury against the city.