In the US, a Washington resident filed a lawsuit on Thursday, claiming he was detained for playing Darth Vader's theme from "Star Wars" during a protest against the National Guard patrolling the city during US President Donald Trump's announced crime-fighting measures, UNN reports with reference to Axios.
Details
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on behalf of Sam O'Hara against four officers of the Metropolitan Police Department and a National Guard soldier from Ohio, seeking damages for alleged violations of the First and Fourth Amendments to the US Constitution, unlawful detention/imprisonment; and assault.
After Trump deployed the National Guard from Washington and other US states as part of his crime-fighting campaign, O'Hara began protesting its deployment by playing "The Imperial March" from "The Empire Strikes Back," the second film in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, while filming National Guard troops on the city streets.
Most of the National Guard soldiers "ignored" O'Hara, and "some smiled or laughed" at his actions. He uploaded the videos to TikTok, where, according to the lawsuit, they were viewed "millions" of times.
@freedc20009 #freedc ♬ original sound - freedc20009
@freedc20009 #freedc ♬ original sound - freedc20009
But the Ohio guardsman "was not amused by this satire" and "threatened to call DC police to 'deal with' the protester if he continued," when the incident occurred on September 11, ACLU lawyers claim in their complaint.
The complaint alleges that O'Hara used his phone, "and sometimes a small speaker, and listened to 'The Imperial March' on the go, keeping the music volume audible but not loud."
According to his lawyers, the arriving DC police officers "tightly" handcuffed O'Hara and detained him for 15-20 minutes.
The DC Metropolitan Police Department provided Axios with a police report about the incident, which states that a guardsman "stopped" the officers, and that O'Hara was "released without further incident."
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