San Diego police are facing criticism after videos circulating on social media appear to show officers using pepper spray on a crowd in the Gaslamp Quarter early Sunday morning. The incident happened around 2:30 a.m. near Tacos El Gordo, where more than 100 people had gathered as nearby bars were closing for the night. Witnesses say officers with the San Diego Police Department’s bike patrol responded to a disturbance. Cellphone video from the scene shows officers appearing to use pepper spray to push back the crowd. Dalton Tingle said he was among those affected. “I was sprayed by a cop directly in the face,” Tingle said. Tingle said he began recording after being hit with the spray, describing confusion and pain as he tried to recover. “I was scared I was hurting never been pepper sprayed so that was interesting,” Tingle said. In the video, a woman in a pink dress is also seen being sprayed. “She was doing absolutely nothing and she was sprayed,” Tingle said. Tingle said he was not involved in any disturbance at the time. “I wasn’t near them I wasn’t doing anything. I was looking over while I was crossing the crosswalk,” Tingle said. Witnesses say officers were initially called to the area for a fight, though San Diego police have not released additional details. A spokesperson said the report was not readily available. In an email, police spokesperson Lt. Cesar Jimenez said the department reviews use-of-force incidents closely. “The level of force used by officers during incidents like these are heavily scrutinized by the Internal Affairs Unit to determine if the force used was within policy,” Jimenez said. According to San Diego Police Department procedures from 2018, liquid chemical agents generally should not be used to disperse a crowd without approval from an on-scene field supervisor or incident commander. So far, internal affairs has not received a complaint of excessive force, according to the department. Tingle said the experience changed how he views the situation. “After watching that. I feel like cops made me feel unsafe I don’t even feel like it was the people there,” Tingle said. Police say they have obtained the video and plan to review the details of the incident. This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication. ...read more read less