Overview
- Sam O’Hara filed a federal lawsuit Thursday in Washington naming Ohio National Guard Sgt. Devon Beck, four Metropolitan Police Department officers, and the District of Columbia.
- The complaint alleges violations of free-speech and search-and-seizure protections, plus false arrest, false imprisonment, and battery, and it seeks compensatory and punitive damages.
- According to the suit, O’Hara followed an Ohio Guard patrol in Logan Circle on Sept. 11 while playing the Star Wars “Imperial March,” was handcuffed for 15–20 minutes, and was released without charges.
- The filing says an officer told O’Hara his actions were not a protest and that tight handcuffs left marks and worsened a prior shoulder injury, while a police report noted he was sent on his way without further incident.
- Officials have not offered substantive public comment as the case proceeds, and the suit situates the episode within President Donald Trump’s August deployment of more than 2,300 Guard members to patrol D.C., which O’Hara has mocked in videos viewed by millions on TikTok.