U.S. National Guard soldiers walk across a street in downtown Washington, D.C. near the White House. Photo: Kay Nietfeld/dpa (Photo by Kay Nietfeld/picture alliance via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON - Sam O’Hara, a Washington, D.C. resident who protested National Guard troops by playing the Star Wars "Imperial March," has filed a lawsuit alleging police and a National Guard member violated his constitutional rights by detaining him.
According to the ACLU, O'Hara sued an Ohio National Guard member and four Metropolitan Police Department officers for violating his constitutional rights and D.C. law.
The American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia (ACLU-D.C.) filed the lawsuit on O’Hara’s behalf.
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The backstory:
Following President Donald Trump’s August 11 deployment of D.C. National Guard members—and the subsequent arrival of additional troops from several states, O’Hara began protesting their presence in his neighborhood.
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The ACLU said his form of protest was both pointed and playful: walking behind Guard members while playing Star Wars’ "The Imperial March" on his phone and recording the encounters.
He later posted the videos on TikTok, where they quickly went viral and drew millions of views.
On September 11, 2025, O’Hara encountered Ohio National Guard Sgt. Beck and several other Guard members near 14th and Q Streets NW.
The ACLU stated standing several feet behind them, he again played "The Imperial March"—Darth Vader’s theme—and began recording. Within minutes, Sgt. Beck turned and threatened to call the police if O’Hara did not stop. When O’Hara continued, Beck contacted the Metropolitan Police Department. Responding officers arrived, tightly handcuffed O’Hara, and detained him for 15 to 20 minutes.
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According to the complaint filed, the officers’ actions violated O’Hara’s First Amendment rights to record and protest, and his Fourth Amendment protection against unlawful detention.
The suit claims Sgt. Beck acted unlawfully by summoning police to suppress O’Hara’s protest, while the responding officers violated the law by detaining and handcuffing him without cause.
What they're saying:
"Armed National Guard should not be policing D.C. residents as we walk around our neighborhoods," Sam O’Hara, plaintiff in the case, said in an online news release. "It was important to me not to normalize this dystopian occupation. Instead of respecting my right to protest, police officers handcuffed me so tightly my wrists were still marked and sore the next day. This shows the danger of deploying troops onto American streets: it puts all our basic rights at risk."
"The government doesn't get to decide if your protest is funny, and government officials can’t punish you for making them the punchline. That’s really the whole point of the First Amendment," said Michael Perloff, senior staff attorney at ACLU-D.C.
The Source: Information in this story comes from a complaint filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia (ACLU-D.C.) on behalf of Sam O’Hara, as well as statements from O’Hara and ACLU-D.C. attorney Michael Perloff included in the organization’s official news release announcing the lawsuit. This story was reported from Los Angeles.