COLUMBUS, OH — A Washington, D.C., man filed a lawsuit on Oct. 23 against a member of the Ohio National Guard and several police officers after being detained at a September protest in the nation's capital while playing a well-known villain theme song from the "Star Wars" movies.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of Sam O'Hara, 35, naming Sgt. Devon Beck of the Ohio National Guard and four DC police officers as the defendants. The lawsuit stems from his Sept. 11 arrest, which he says violated his First Amendment rights.
The lawsuit claims O'Hara frequently protested the presence of National Guard members sent to Washington, D.C., in August. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Aug. 16 ordered 250 guard members to Washington at the request of the Secretary of the Army.
"Mr. O'Hara was deeply concerned about the normalization of troops patrolling D.C. neighborhoods. And so, he began protesting the Guard members' presence by walking several feet behind them when he saw them in the community," the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia states.
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