DC man sues after arrested, released for playing 'Star Wars' music behind National Guard in protest

A Washington, D.C., man filed a lawsuit against a National Guardsman, Metropolitan Police officers, and the District of Columbia after he was arrested and released for playing "Star Wars" music behind the National Guard in protest.

The lawsuit was filed by Sam O’Hara’s lawyers in federal district court in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, explaining his detention on Sept. 11, MSNBC reported. O'Hara played “The Imperial March” from “Star Wars,” which is the theme associated with the villain Darth Vader, in various incidents while walking behind Guard members on public streets.

Last month, O'Hara was returning home from work and began walking behind a group of Guardsmen while playing the song on his phone and recording them. O'Hara, 35, said that he didn’t speak to, touch, or interfere with the Guardsmen's activities, and played the music loudly but not at a “blaring level.”

His lawsuit said that most Guardsmen he encountered during his protests ignored him, and “a few smiled or laughed.” However, last month, according to the complaint, Sgt. Devon Beck of the Ohio National Guard “was not amused by this satire,” and contacted Metropolitan Police officers, who handcuffed O'Hara and prevented him from “continuing his peaceful protest.” He was released without being charged.

Beck is the Guardsman named as one of the defendants in the lawsuit.

O'Hara claims that his First and Fourth Amendment rights were violated, and that he was subjected to false arrest and battery. He said police officers refused to loosen his tight handcuffs, which caused him pain.

“The law might have tolerated government conduct of this sort a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” O’Hara’s lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union wrote in a civil lawsuit, playing on the “Star Wars” theme.

“But in the here and now, the First Amendment bars government officials from shutting down peaceful protests, and the Fourth Amendment (along with the District’s prohibition on false arrest) bars groundless seizures,” they wrote.