San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter serves as the city’s hub for tourists and residents to see concerts, dine at popular restaurants and drink at dozens of bars. More and more often, though, the sights and smells wafting on Gaslamp Quarter streets are not filled with aromas from French bistros, but with the noxious, pungent and tear-inducing odors of oleoresin capsicum, more often referred to as pepper spray, discharged by San Diego Police Officers patrolling the nightlife district.

In 2025, SDPD’s Gaslamp enforcement team, also known as the Gaslamp bike team, deployed more pepper spray strikes than in the previous two years combined, according to SDPD use-of-force data obtained by Times of San Diego.

SDPD officers last year used pepper spray 361 times while responding to calls in the Gaslamp, more than double the number of deployments in 2024, and three times the number in 2023.

The 2025 pepper spray deployments were the most since at least 2017, the earliest year of available data.

SDPD’s policy outlining the use of liquid chemical agents requires all authorized officers to carry pepper spray, also referred to as Oleoresin Capsicum (OC). The policy permits officers to use chemical agents on only those who are “engaged in active resistance, assaultive behavior, or life-threatening behavior.”

In crowded areas such as the Gaslamp, the policy prohibits use of pepper spray and other chemical agents specifically to disperse crowds without the authorization of a supervisor.

“It is imperative that officers respond in a coordinated manner,” reads the policy.

There is no other part of the city in which pepper spray is used more frequently than the Gaslamp. While officers deployed pepper spray 361 times in the Gaslamp, the next highest neighborhood was East Village, where officers used the chemical agent 18 times. Downtown’s Core-Columbia neighborhood and Mission Beach saw the third and fourth most pepper spray reports, with 8 and 7 incidents, respectively.

SDPD spokesperson Ashley Nicholes says the issue is much more nuanced than what the data suggests.

Police attribute the increased use of pepper spray to more rowdy, drunken and raucous crowds.

“The Gaslamp District is unique in that it has thousands of people packed into a relatively small area due to the number of hotels, conventions, restaurants, bars, and event venues, including Petco Park,” Nicholes told Times of San Diego.  

Recent lawsuits and legal tort claims describe overly eager officers who turn to chemical agents as a quick and effective de-escalation tactic.

In mid-May, videos of police officers deploying pepper spray on dozens of people circulated on social media and eventually on news websites.

That was allegedly the case on July 26, 2025, around 12:30 a.m., when Araceli Ubina Viveros walked near the Greyhound Bar on G Street and 5th Avenue. In a legal tort claim obtained by Times of San Diego, she said she saw three SDPD officers tackle a man later identified as George Medina. Ubina Viveros’ claim describes her watching as officers punched Medina and drove their knees into his back.

She said she witnessed officers unholster canisters of pepper spray and douse Medina in the face with the chemical agent.

Ubina Viveros reached for her phone to document the use of force. As she began to record, one officer allegedly pushed her down, while two others pointed their pepper spray canisters at the crowd of people assembling nearby and sprayed them.

“What happened to our clients was a violent and unnecessary use of force that is becoming a routine experience for San Diegans in the Gaslamp Quarter,” said attorney Sophia Rebecca-Marie from the Pride Law Firm. “Mr. Medina was violently tackled to the ground, punched, and pinned face-down under the weight of multiple officers; ultimately breaking his ribs. It was only after restraining Mr. Medina that SDPD officers used pepper spray on him. As Ms. Urbina Viveros was attempting to record SDPD’s violence, she was shoved to the ground. As this was happening, SDPD officers continued to pepper spray into the crowd of civilians. This reckless use of pepper spray endangers everyone nearby; it’s deeply disturbing conduct by SDPD. “

It was not the only pepper spray incident in the Gaslamp that has resulted in legal action.

In a October 2025 incident, Bryanna Andrade said members of the Gaslamp bike patrol pepper sprayed her in the face when she and a male companion were past an altercation between officers and another unrelated party.

In Andrade’s March 2026 lawsuit, she alleges that police officers stopped her male companion threw him to the ground.

“After [the companion]was taken down and while being struck, (Andrade) verbally questioned the individual officers… She did not touch or physically interfere with any officer; however, she was pushed and pepper-sprayed in response,” the lawsuit alleges.

The department, however, argues that officers working the Gaslamp beat are assaulted more often than officers in any other beat, and are responding to an increase in crimes in the Gaslamp, most of which are exacerbated by the presence of drugs and alcohol.

“Our Gaslamp Enforcement Teams are faced with varying factors when responding to incidents in the Gaslamp, including large crowds, active fights, high levels of intoxication, and more,” said Nicholes.

Since the pandemic, officers working the Gaslamp respond to more disorderly calls than any beat in the city, according to police data. Officers patrolling the Gaslamp are also assaulted more frequently than any other police beat. In 2025, San Diego Police reported 196 assaults on officers in the Gaslamp, more than double the number reported in 2024.

The Gaslamp police beat also has the second-highest number of crimes reported compared with any other police beat, second only to Pacific Beach.

“Our officers continually receive training in de-escalation and working to prevent a larger public safety concern, but the reality is that the complexity of the issues our officers are dealing with, and how quickly situations can escalate, can lead to varying levels of force,” Nicholes said. “Pepper spray can be used when someone is attempting to evade or impede being taken into custody. It is a lower-force option that can be used when situations arise that allow it.”

Nicholes said the dramatic spike in recent years is not due to any policy change, but likely an increase in violence and public drunkenness.

“Over the past few years, we have seen an increase in the level of intoxication and violence in the Gaslamp,” she said.

“Our officers have an important job to do in the Gaslamp to maintain public safety and deserve to do their work in a safe environment,” Nicholes said. “We have seen an increase in people showing violence toward officers while they are trying to effect an arrest or tend to a victim. We want people to visit the Gaslamp and enjoy themselves.  We just ask that people do so safely and responsibly, and if you see officers working, give them space and allow them to do their jobs.”