A Washington DC resident who was detained last month for following a national guard patrol while playing Darth Vader’s theme from the Star Wars films has filed a lawsuit alleging that his constitutional rights were violated.
Sam O’Hara, represented by an American Civil Liberties Union attorney, filed the complaint against four local police officers, a member of the Ohio national guard and the District of Columbia.
O’Hara was protesting against the Trump administration’s deployment of national guard troops by walking behind them and playing The Imperial March, the song used in Star Wars as a theme for Darth Vader and other figures of the hated Galactic Empire.
Before he was detained, one of the national guard members, Devon Beck, said: “Hey, man, If you’re going to keep following us, we can contact Metro PD and they can come handle you if that’s what you want to do.
“The law might have tolerated government conduct of this sort a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” the suit states, quoting Star Wars.
After being arrested last month for playing the Star Wars theme song “Darth Vader” while following a national guard patrol, a Washington, DC, resident has filed a lawsuit, claiming that his constitutional rights were overturned.
Attorney Sam O’Hara of the American Civil Liberties Union filed the complaint against the District of Columbia, four local police officers, and a member of the Ohio National Guard.
The Imperial March, the Star Wars theme song for Darth Vader and other members of the vilified Galactic Empire, was playing as O’Hara marched behind the Trump administration’s national guard troops in protest of their deployment.
Through TikTok, O’Hara shared his efforts.
Before being taken into custody, Devon Beck, a member of the national guard, said: “Hey, man, if you’re going to keep following us, we can contact Metro PD and they can come handle you if that’s what you want to do.”. Do you want to do that?
According to the lawsuit, O’Hara was handcuffed by the police after Beck called them, “preventing him from continuing his peaceful protest.”.
As the lawsuit quotes Star Wars, it says, “The law might have tolerated government conduct of this sort a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.”. However, the Fourth Amendment (along with the District’s ban on false arrest) forbids arbitrary seizures, and the First Amendment forbids government officials from dispersing nonviolent protests in the present. “”.
O’Hara’s actions are in line with other recent amusing demonstrations against Trump’s practice of using the military on American streets and making arrests for alleged immigration violations. Numerous demonstrators in the most recent No Kings marches donned inflatable frog, unicorn, and other fantasy animal costumes.
Comedian Rob Potylo, dressed in a giraffe suit, performed a Rod Stewart song outside an ICE office in Portland earlier this month while chanting, “Come on ICE, leave Portland if you hate brown people and you are a Nazi.”. “.”.
According to the Daily Beast, Potylo, who was also arrested by ICE, has stated that he intends to sue both the Department of Homeland Security and ICE.
O’Hara, who brought the case before the US District Court for the District of Columbia, has asked the court to declare that the military and law enforcement officials’ actions were unlawful under the first and fourth amendments and that, in accordance with DC law, they amounted to false arrest, false imprisonment, and battery. In addition, he asked the defendants to pay compensatory damages.
