D.C. settles suit over protester detained while playing Darth Vader theme
D.C. settled with a protester who said police handcuffed him for trailing National Guard troops while blasting Darth Vader's theme on his phone.
The District of Columbia has settled with Sam O’Hara, a D.C. resident, after police detained and tightly handcuffed him as he followed National Guard troops through the city while playing Darth Vader’s theme from Star Wars. The June 2026 agreement ends his claims against the district and four Metropolitan Police Department officers over a Sept. 11, 2025 encounter near 14th and Q Streets NW.
O’Hara filed suit on Oct. 23, 2025, after a sidewalk protest that lasted about 15 to 20 minutes. He had been walking behind Guard members while playing “The Imperial March” on his phone or a small speaker and recording the encounters for TikTok, where the videos drew millions of views. The American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia represented him in First Amendment, Fourth Amendment and D.C. false-arrest claims, and O’Hara wanted to make clear he did not want to normalize what he called a “dystopian occupation.”
President Donald Trump’s Aug. 11, 2025 decision declared a crime emergency in Washington and sent 800 D.C. National Guard troops into the capital. Governors in Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia, South Carolina, Mississippi and Louisiana later sent contingents of their own, pushing the total deployment to 2,400 troops. Ohio National Guard Sgt. Devon Beck complained to police after O’Hara continued recording, and Beck threatened to call police if he did not stop.
Four D.C. officers then detained O’Hara and handcuffed him so tightly that his wrists were still marked and sore the next day. He was released without charges. O’Hara will drop his claims against the district and the four officers within three business days of receiving the settlement payment. The payment was a “significant amount,” but the dollar figure was not disclosed for privacy reasons. The settlement does not resolve O’Hara’s separate claims against Beck, whose lawyers have asked a judge to dismiss the case against him. Brian Schwalb’s office declined to comment.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Know something we missed? Have a correction or additional information?
Submit a Tip
