The District of Columbia has reached a settlement agreement with a resident who claimed he was illegally detained and handcuffed for following National Guard troops while playing the Darth Vader theme song from “Star Wars” on his phone.

A court filing Thursday said protester Sam O’Hara would drop his lawsuit against the District and four Metropolitan Police Department officers within three days of being compensated. The settlement does not detail the amount that will be paid to Sam O’Hara, who is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union. 

“In Star Wars, the Imperial March is the music that plays when Darth Vader and his storm troopers enter the scene. It’s also the soundtrack of Sam O’Hara’s protest against the National Guard’s presence in D.C.,” the ACLU said in a press release. 

The ACLU has also said that O’Hara viewed President Donald Trump’s August 2025 deployment of National Guard troops in the District to support local police as “a violation of centuries-old norms against militarizing domestic law enforcement and a threat to individual freedom." 

According to the press release, O’Hara began to walk behind Guard members playing the march on his phone and recording, with most community members and several members of the Guard smiling and laughing in response. He had also recorded the interactions and posted the videos on TikTok, which garnered millions of views. 

However, Ohio National Guard Sgt. Devon Beck was “not amused by the satire,” according to the suit, and threatened to call the Metropolitan Police Department if O’Hara did not stop. When he persisted, Sgt. Beck recruited MPD officers who detained and handcuffed O’Hara.

“The law might have tolerated government conduct of this sort a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,” the suit said, which is a reference to the opening credits of Star Wars. 

The resident claimed in his suit that Beck, the officers and the city had violated his constitutional rights to free speech and rights against unreasonable seizures and excessive force.

O’Hara’s claims against Beck are still pending. The Justice Department has argued that Beck’s actions are shielded by qualified immunity and that his claims should be dismissed. 

“Beck could reasonably perceive that conduct as interfering with the patrol’s movement and situational awareness, because an armed patrol must attend to nearby persons, maintain the ability to hear, and move without a civilian trailing it at close range,” DOJ attorneys said.

Since Trump issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in Washington last August, hundreds of Guard members remain deployed in the district nearly a year later.