Federal agents pepper spray, tackle 80-year-old man in Santa Barbara

A video shows federal agents pepper-spraying and tackling an 80-year-old man during a confrontation with residents in Santa Barbara.

On Feb. 21, Doug Hayes, 80, said he saw two people on top of someone who was not moving. Hayes has spent the past 50 years as a defense attorney in Santa Barbara. The agents had detained a man, who is a U.S. citizen in his 20s, after he allegedly vandalized their unmarked vehicle. 

Hayes said his law office is a few blocks away. He added that he could hear the screaming from his office and went to see what was happening. 

He said he didn't know why agents were on top of the young man, but worried that the man couldn't breathe with his face pressed into the pavement and a backpack. 

"There was a thing under his face, so I thought is he breathing?" Hayes said. "I grabbed the bag and one of the guys on top grabbed the bag from me. I reached to grab his phone. He grabbed that away from me. That's my recollection. He kept saying, 'Get back. Get back.' I said, 'No, get off him.' Somehow, I ended up on my back with the spray."

Hayes said he shrugged off what happened to him but is concerned about what's happening in the country and called it "an assault on civil rights."

"It means something to me to be an American," he said. "And this is not what it's supposed to be."

The response from the community has been mostly positive. 

"Well over 300 people have sent kind things," Hayes said. "We've received five negative phone calls. So, if that's the voting that comes out of this, we are going to win this one."

Hayes said he's thinking about getting himself an attorney to file a lawsuit. 

"Any federal lawyer who has creds, real creds, if they called me, I'd be happy to follow through with them," Hayes said. 

CBS LA contacted the Department of Homeland Security for information on the detained man, but has not heard back. Hayes was not arrested and has not been charged with any crime.