{"id":18186,"date":"2026-06-26T17:32:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T17:32:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18186"},"modified":"2026-06-26T17:32:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T17:32:04","slug":"dc-reaches-court-settlement-with-man-detained-while-protesting-troops-patrol-with-darth-vader-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18186","title":{"rendered":"DC reaches court settlement with man detained while protesting troops\u2019 patrol with Darth Vader song"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><strong>By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The District of Columbia has reached a  for an undisclosed amount of money with a resident who claims police illegally detained him for following an Ohio National Guard patrol while playing Darth Vader\u2019s theme song from \u201cStar Wars\u201d on his phone \u2014 an act of protest against the Trump administration\u2019s federal law-enforcement surge in the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18184\">Ukraine unleashes one of its heaviest drone bombardments of Russia<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A court filing late Thursday says the plaintiff, Sam O\u2019Hara, will drop his lawsuit\u2019s claims against the district and four Metropolitan Police Department officers within three business days of receiving the settlement payment. The filing doesn\u2019t specify a dollar amount for the deal between the district and O\u2019Hara, who is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia.<\/p>\n<p>In an email on Friday, an ACLU spokesperson referred to the settlement\u2019s financial terms as \u201ca significant amount\u201d that O\u2019Hara \u201cis pleased with\u201d but said they aren\u2019t disclosing the dollar figure to protect his privacy. A spokesperson for D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb\u2019s office declined to comment on the settlement.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Hara\u2019s agreement with the district doesn\u2019t resolve his related claims against an Ohio National Guard member. Attorneys for the Guard member, Sgt. Devon Beck, have asked a judge to dismiss O\u2019Hara\u2019s claims against him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was there because that was his assigned duty,\u201d Beck\u2019s lawyers wrote. \u201cThis was not an accidental encounter or a one-time disagreement on a public sidewalk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>An earlier court filing, in February, said O\u2019Hara had reached a settlement agreement \u201cin principle\u201d with the district. In response, a judge agreed to suspend the case while they negotiated terms.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18179\">Disagreements between Supreme Court justices bubble into public view as major rulings loom<\/a><\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Hara sued the district last October, claiming police officers violated his First Amendment rights to free speech and his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable seizures and excessive force.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The ominous orchestral music of \u201cThe Imperial March\u201d from Star Wars movies was the soundtrack for O\u2019Hara\u2019s peaceful protests against President Donald Trump\u2019s deployment of Guard members in Washington. Millions of TikTok users have viewed O\u2019Hara\u2019s videos of his interactions with troops, according to his lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Hara, an artist who works in the hospitality industry, says he didn\u2019t interfere with the Guard troops during their Sept. 11, 2025, encounter on a public street. One of the troops summoned Metropolitan Police Department officers, who stopped O\u2019Hara and kept him handcuffed for 15 to 20 minutes before releasing him without charges, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe 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,\u201d the suit says.<\/p>\n<p>Trump, a Republican, issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in Washington last August. Within weeks, hundreds of Guard troops and federal agents were helping police patrol the city. The surge inflamed tensions with residents of the heavily Democratic district.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18177\">Judge holds prosecutors in Charlie Kirk murder case in contempt for comments about his guilt<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The District of Columbia has reached a settlement agreement for an undisclosed amount of money with a resident who claims police illegally detained him for following an Ohio National Guard patrol while playing Darth Vader\u2019s theme song from \u201cStar Wars\u201d on his phone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>DC reaches court settlement with man detained while protesting troops\u2019 patrol with Darth Vader song - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18186\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DC reaches court settlement with man detained while protesting troops\u2019 patrol with Darth Vader song - Silicon Valley Moving Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The District of Columbia has reached a settlement agreement for an undisclosed amount of money with a resident who claims police illegally detained him for following an Ohio National Guard patrol while playing Darth Vader\u2019s theme song from \u201cStar Wars\u201d on his phone.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18186\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Silicon Valley Moving Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-26T17:32:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=18186#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=18186\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7\"},\"headline\":\"DC reaches court settlement with man detained while protesting troops\u2019 patrol with Darth Vader song\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-26T17:32:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=18186\"},\"wordCount\":559,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=18186#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/78a6896b9ce6440058b0361216aca21c.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"National News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=18186#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=18186\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=18186\",\"name\":\"DC reaches court settlement with man detained while protesting troops\u2019 patrol with Darth Vader song - Silicon Valley Moving Post\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=18186#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=18186#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/78a6896b9ce6440058b0361216aca21c.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-26T17:32:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=18186#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=18186\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=18186#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/78a6896b9ce6440058b0361216aca21c.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/78a6896b9ce6440058b0361216aca21c.webp\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":575},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=18186#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"DC reaches court settlement with man detained while protesting troops\u2019 patrol with Darth Vader song\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Silicon Valley Moving Post\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"DC reaches court settlement with man detained while protesting troops\u2019 patrol with Darth Vader song - Silicon Valley Moving Post","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18186","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"DC reaches court settlement with man detained while protesting troops\u2019 patrol with Darth Vader song - Silicon Valley Moving Post","og_description":"The District of Columbia has reached a settlement agreement for an undisclosed amount of money with a resident who claims police illegally detained him for following an Ohio National Guard patrol while playing Darth Vader\u2019s theme song from \u201cStar Wars\u201d on his phone.","og_url":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18186","og_site_name":"Silicon Valley Moving Post","article_published_time":"2026-06-26T17:32:04+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18186#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18186"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7"},"headline":"DC reaches court settlement with man detained while protesting troops\u2019 patrol with Darth Vader song","datePublished":"2026-06-26T17:32:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18186"},"wordCount":559,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18186#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/78a6896b9ce6440058b0361216aca21c.webp","articleSection":["National News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18186#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18186","url":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18186","name":"DC reaches court settlement with man detained while protesting troops\u2019 patrol with Darth Vader song - Silicon Valley Moving Post","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18186#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18186#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/78a6896b9ce6440058b0361216aca21c.webp","datePublished":"2026-06-26T17:32:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18186#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18186"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18186#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/78a6896b9ce6440058b0361216aca21c.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/78a6896b9ce6440058b0361216aca21c.webp","width":1024,"height":575},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18186#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"DC reaches court settlement with man detained while protesting troops\u2019 patrol with Darth Vader song"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/","name":"Silicon Valley Moving Post","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com"],"url":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}