Dangerous Grand Floral Parade driver sentenced to five years in prison

Published 8:00 am Wednesday, October 2, 2024

The Portland man who raced past Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade blockades, nearly hitting several people last year, was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday, Oct. 1.

Sidney Mecham, 43, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of unlawful use of a weapon and 16 misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another person and reckless driving.

The incident happened on Saturday, June 10, 2023. Mecham was originally indicted by a Multnomah County Grand Jury on 38 counts related to the incident.

No one was injured but several people reported feeling threatened.

Mecham is also a convicted sex offender with a history of traffic violations.

According to KOIN 6 News, court documents show that Mecham was first charged with multiple sex crimes in Multnomah County in 1996. While the nine sexual abuse charges filed against Mecham in 1996 were dismissed, he was ultimately found guilty of three counts of attempting to commit a Class A felony and was required to register as a sex offender in 1999.

Mecham was convicted of failing to report as a sex offender in 2009, 2010 and 2014, and was later convicted of sexually assaulting a child in Clatsop County in 2016. He has also faced various traffic cases in the past decade. Records show he was found guilty of driving without insurance in 2013. Then, in 2019, he was convicted of driving with a suspended license after failing to appear in court.

According to the Portland Police Bureau, the June 10 incident began at 10:04 a.m. when a motorcycle officer on assignment to the PPB Traffic Division was made aware of a man driving a pickup truck that had entered the closed streets of the parade route. The officer saw parade goers running out of the street and heard them screaming, trying to get his attention.

The officer then saw the truck driving east on Northeast Weidler Street ahead of him and he attempted to stop the truck using the motorcycle’s lights and sirens, but the driver refused to stop and went south on Northeast MLK Jr. Boulevard.

The officer then pulled alongside of the truck and told the driver to pull over but he still refused. The officer then drove ahead of the truck to warn pedestrians until it appeared the driver was going to hit him, and the officer got out of the way.

The officer then again attempted to get in front of the truck to stop or slow the truck down and the driver suddenly turned left onto Northeast Wasco Street and drove directly at families sitting on the curb, waiting for the parade. The officer witnessed several people in danger of being struck by the vehicle as it left MLK Jr. Boulevard.

The officer continued to pursue the truck, which then ran through a barricade, causing volunteers to quickly get out of the way to avoid being hit. The vehicle left the parade route but continued to elude police officers.

The PPB Air Support Unit took over following the truck and was able to update other responding officers. The truck eventually stopped near the intersection of Northeast 24th Avenue and Northeast Clackamas Street, where the driver was taken into custody.

Mecham was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on charges of Recklessly Endangering Another Person, Disorderly Conduct, Attempt to Elude, Reckless Driving, and Hit and Run (from an earlier, unrelated case). He was also cited for Driving While Suspended, Failure to Obey a Police Officer, and for no insurance. Mecham’s vehicle was towed due to no insurance.

Investigators later learned the driver came from Northbound I-5 and went around two Oregon Department of Transportation trucks that were being used to close the ramp on to Northeast Weidler Street. The driver of the truck had to go up into the ivy on the hill side of the ramp to make it around the trucks.