The District of Columbia and ACLU on Friday settled a lawsuit brought by a man who was arrested in September 2025 for protesting the presence of National Guard troops deployed to Washington, D.C., by playing Darth Vader's theme near them. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
June 26 (UPI) -- The District of Columbia and the American Civil Liberties Union on Friday settled a lawsuit over the wrongful arrest of a man for protesting the National Guard's presence in the capital.
Sam O'Hara, who was arrested last year for repeatedly playing the "Imperial March" -- Darth Vader's theme music in the Star Wars movie franchise -- behind members of the Guard who were on patrol in the District, will be paid an undisclosed amount of money in exchange for dropping his lawsuit.
The ACLU filed the finalized settlement on behalf of O'Hara on Friday, ending a months-long negotiation with officials in Washington, D.C., and its Metropolitan Police Department, but a suit against the Ohio National Guard sergeant who had him cuffed and detained was still in litigation, USA Today reported.
"Our 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.
