Clown and cop brawl outside Milwaukee City Hall

MILWAUKEE, Wis. (WHDH) -- It's the type of eyewitness video that's bound to be a web sensation: a man dressed as a clown getting into a brawl with a Milwaukee police officer. And it's all caught on camera.

“I pulled up to the stoplight on the corner of water and wells, and I kind of happened to look to my right because there was a little bit of movement of a police officer approaching this man kind of dressed as a clown, but you couldn't really tell. It was really weird,” said witness, Mitch Cooper.

Cooper couldn't believe what he was seeing, but he knew he had to pull out his phone and hit record.

“What's going through my head is a cop beating up a clown. How can I not capture this video and show it to all my friends? So I had to whip out my phone and hit on video,” said Cooper.

The clown is actually a local activist often spotted outside government buildings. Friday he was at city hall. Police won't comment on camera, but say they received several complaints the man was chasing cars with a squirt gun.

And they add: the clown resisted arrest.

“The officer reached for him, and then all of a sudden, the next thing you know, they're on the ground, tussling and rolling around. The officer started punching him, and then another officer showed up, and it looked like they were about to arrest him. It was pretty funny. The clown was resisting, so the cop needed to do what he needed to do to make sure he was safe."

Cooper said he just happened upon the crazy scene.

"It was funny to witness, probably not so fun for the clown, but as a spectator, it was pretty entertaining,” said Cooper.

The clown was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.