The District of Columbia and the American Civil Liberties Union on Friday finalized a settlement in a First Amendment lawsuit brought by Sam O’Hara, a D.C. resident who was handcuffed after trailing National Guard troops while playing Darth Vader’s theme music from the Star Wars franchise on a portable speaker.
O’Hara will receive an undisclosed amount of money in exchange for dropping claims against the city and its Metropolitan Police Department. The ACLU, which filed the finalized settlement Friday, described the payment as “not a significant amount” and said the specific figure will not be disclosed.
“The right to free speech grants us the freedom to criticize the government,” Scott Michelman, legal director for the ACLU’s Washington, D.C., chapter, told the New York Times. “Government officials don’t have to like it, but they can’t punish someone for their speech.”
O’Hara’s protest spanned months, during which he walked behind National Guard troops deployed by President Donald Trump in the capital while playing the “Imperial March” and recording encounters. Clips of the interactions accumulated millions of views on social media.
The confrontation that led to his arrest occurred on Sept. 11, when an Ohio National Guard sergeant told O’Hara that if he continued the protest, the Metropolitan Police Department would be called to “handle” the situation, according to the lawsuit. When O’Hara did not stop, MPD officers arrived, handcuffed him, and accused him of harassing Guard members. He was released without charges.
In a statement, O’Hara said law enforcement’s effort to end his protest “ultimately backfired and brought more attention to the unjust deployment of the National Guard in Washington, D.C.” He added: “This settlement serves as a reminder that constitutional freedoms are worth defending, especially when those in power would prefer we stay quiet.”
The settlement does not affect claims against the Ohio National Guard sergeant who ordered the detention. That defendant’s motion to dismiss the claims against him “remains live,” according to the court filing.
The Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement that its internal affairs bureau is investigating the incident. The department said its policies would not change and that it “recognizes the importance of upholding First Amendment rights of individuals to peacefully express their views and is dedicated to facilitating lawful demonstrations while maintaining public safety and order.”