Man arrested for taunting DC troops with ‘Star Wars’ song strikes back
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In an unusual form of protest, Sam O’Hara took to his city’s streets armed with a cell phone and a speaker and proceeded to follow around National Guard troops deployed to Washington, D.C., as he played “The Imperial March” from “Star Wars.”
The iconic song conjures up images of Sith Lords, lightsabers, and galactic totalitarian regimes. And, as it turns out, it can set the stage for a fight over Constitutional rights.
In a federal lawsuit, O’Hara alleges that an Ohio National Guardsman called local police on him and interrupted his right to protest. The complaint filed Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation describes O’Hara as being “deeply concerned about the normalization of troops patrolling D.C. neighborhoods,” and thus he took to the troll-ish form of protesting. However, the National Guard was “not amused by this satire.”
O’Hara had done the same thing on three occasions, but on Sept. 11, the interaction escalated.
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large">
<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Over the years, we here at Task & Purpose have mused about more Star Wars military crossovers, but we didn’t expect this. Task & Purpose illustration by Aaron Provost.</figcaption></figure>“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. Is that what you want to do?” a National Guard sergeant asked O’Hara, who did not respond.
The soldier then contacted the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and four officers came to the scene. Those police officers put O’Hara in handcuffs, “preventing him from continuing his peaceful protest,” according to the complaint.
That video had previously surfaced on social media, including Reddit where users either called it an overreaction or expressed concerns about National Guard morale. The video has since been deleted from the Reddit post, but the comments remain.
While O’Hara’s lawsuit is definitely unique, he is not the only D.C. resident using social media to protest or mock the National Guard deployments in the capital city. Content with troops has been blasted over TikTok with most of the videos striking a humorous tone, but also seemingly trying to make a point or ridicule the politics behind it.
“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, and the Fourth Amendment (along with the District’s prohibition on false arrest) bars groundless seizures,” the complaint states.
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In addition to the constitutional violations, the lawsuit alleges that the sergeant and police officers “compounded these violations by needlessly prolonging the length” of O’Hara’s detainment — 15 to 20 minutes — and used “excessive force” with handcuffs that were kept too tight after he complained. In addition to the alleged First and Fourth Amendment violations, the lawsuit states that the officers are liable for false arrest, false imprisonment, and battery.
The sergeant is called out in the complaint for “[causing this violation of Mr. O’Hara’s First Amendment rights by calling the officers and instructing them to detain Mr. O’Hara and to terminate his ability to continue recording the Guard members and peacefully protesting them.”
The various state National Guard troops are in D.C. under Title 32 orders and are allowed to “temporarily limit the movement of an individual” under certain conditions, but cannot legally make arrests. The lawsuit notes that the sergeant followed directives from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine by not taking part in the arrest.
Joshua Kastenberg, a former Air Force lawyer and current law professor at the University of New Mexico, said the sergeant himself had a right to call the police if he was being harassed or if it interrupted his duties.
“We have the right to freedom of speech, but when your speech is intended to provoke others, you’re also responsible for the provocation that ensues,” Kastenberg said. “Frankly, a National Guardsman calling the police instead of exercising violence on his own or confronting is exactly what we want the military to do. We have never wanted the military to take matters into their own hands.”
A Joint Task Force-D.C. official told Task & Purpose they could not comment on pending litigation.
In addition to a ruling over the violations, O’Hara is seeking punitive damages for an amount that would be determined at a jury trial and cover his attorney fees, according to the lawsuit.
In mid-August President Donald Trump announced 800 or so Washington D.C. National Guard troops would be mobilized to fight crime and assist local law enforcement throughout the city. In the following weeks, other states announced hundreds of other National Guard troops were also sent to the U.S. capital — bringing th
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