COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A Washington, D.C., man has filed a lawsuit against an Ohio National Guard member and local police, alleging he was detained for recording guardsmen in the nation’s capital while playing the villain’s theme from “Star Wars.”
On Thursday, Sam O’Hara, 35, filed the lawsuit against guardsman Sgt. Devon Beck, of Columbus, and four D.C. police officers over his Sept. 11 arrest, which he claims violated his First Amendment rights.
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According to the complaint, filed in federal court in the District of Columbia, O’Hara saw Beck and several other guard members walking on his way home from work and “calmly” walked behind them, playing “The Imperial March” aloud on his phone while recording. The song is used to signal the presence of Darth Vader and the Galactic Empire in the “Star Wars” movie series.
The lawsuit claims O’Hara, who followed from several feet away, did not speak to, touch or otherwise interfere with the guard members’ duties. He played the music “loudly but not at a blaring level,” the suit states…