D.C. settles with protester detained after Darth Vader song

D.C. settles – The District of Columbia reached an undisclosed settlement with Sam O’Hara, who said police illegally detained him while he followed an Ohio National Guard patrol and played Darth Vader’s theme from his phone as protest. A court filing says he will drop claims

WASHINGTON — The tune was instantly recognizable, the kind of music that makes people look up even on a busy street. For Sam O’Hara, it was also the signal of his protest.

O’Hara says that on September 11. 2025. he followed an Ohio National Guard patrol on a public street without interfering with the troops while playing Darth Vader’s theme song. “The Imperial March. ” from “Star Wars” on his phone. What happened next. according to his lawsuit. was an encounter with Metropolitan Police Department officers that escalated into a detention that lasted 15 to 20 minutes—handcuffed. held. and then released without charges.

Now, the District of Columbia has reached a settlement agreement for an undisclosed amount of money with O’Hara, according to a court filing submitted late Thursday.

The filing says O’Hara will drop his lawsuit’s claims against the district and four Metropolitan Police Department officers within three business days of receiving the settlement payment. The deal’s financial terms were not disclosed.

In an email on Friday. an American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia spokesperson said the settlement’s financial terms were “a significant amount” and that O’Hara “is pleased with” the outcome. while explaining that the dollar figure would not be made public to protect his privacy. A spokesperson for D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s office declined to comment on the settlement.

The settlement with the district does not resolve O’Hara’s related claims against the Ohio National Guard member he says helped trigger the police response. Attorneys for Sgt. Devon Beck have asked a judge to dismiss O’Hara’s claims against him.

“He was there because that was his assigned duty,” Beck’s lawyers wrote. “This was not an accidental encounter or a one-time disagreement on a public sidewalk.”

The case began after O’Hara sued the district last October. alleging police violated his First Amendment rights to free speech and his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable seizures and excessive force. In February. O’Hara reached a settlement agreement “in principle” with the district. and a judge agreed to suspend the case while the terms were negotiated.

O’Hara. who is described in the lawsuit as an artist who works in the hospitality industry. framed the detention as a crackdown on peaceful protest during a period of heightened security in Washington. The complaint said millions of TikTok users have viewed his videos of the interactions with troops.

The lawsuit portrayed the music as an expression of dissent against President Donald Trump’s deployment of Guard members in the nation’s capital. during what it described as the Trump administration’s federal law-enforcement surge. Trump. a Republican. issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in Washington last August. after which. within weeks. hundreds of Guard troops and federal agents helped police patrol the city—an influx that inflamed tensions with residents of the heavily Democratic district.

In court, O’Hara argued that the situation crossed a constitutional line. “The law might have tolerated government conduct of this sort a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. But in the here and now, the First Amendment bars government officials from shutting down peaceful protests,” the suit says.

District of Columbia settlement Sam O’Hara Metropolitan Police Department Ohio National Guard Devon Beck First Amendment Fourth Amendment protest Darth Vader theme Imperial March TikTok Brian Schwalb