A reckless driver in a pickup truck breached the Rose Festival’s Grand Floral Parade route just after 10 a.m. Saturday, setting off a scary and bizarre chase through Northeast Portland streets jammed with paradegoers, police said.
Followed by a Portland police officer on a motorcycle, the truck driver went east on Northeast Weidler Street just as the parade was scheduled to get under way at nearby Memorial Coliseum.
“The officer saw parade goers running out of the street and heard them screaming, trying to get his attention,” police said in a statement later Saturday.
The truck driver refused to stop for the officer, police said, and instead headed south on Northeast Martin Luther King Boulevard, the heart of the eastside parade route. Using lights and siren, the officer tried pulling alongside the driver to wave him over, then drove in front of the truck to try to stop him.
“The driver suddenly turned left onto Northeast Wasco Street and drove directly at families sitting on the curb,” police said. No one was struck but moments later the truck went through a barricade, causing volunteers to flee to avoid being hit.
Investigators said the driver had evaded two Oregon Department of Transportation trucks closing the northbound Interstate 5 ramp at Weidler by driving up into the ivy-covered hillside next to the offramp.
Sidney Sean Mecham, 42, of Portland, was taken into custody at Northeast 24th Avenue and Clackamas Street, police said. He was booked into jail on accusations of recklessly endangering another person, attempt to elude, reckless driving, disorderly conduct, and hit and run (in an unrelated case). He also was driving while suspended and with no insurance, police said, and he was cited for those violations as well as failure to obey a police officer.
Officer David Baer told The Oregonian/OregonLive it is not yet clear what Mecham’s intentions were, but that he was “angered about the road closure.” Mecham is not believed to have been under the influence at the time, but mental health struggles may have been a factor, Baer said.
Hillsboro resident Nidia Us and her husband Juan Lopez said Mecham nearly struck their two children and their three nieces as they were waiting for the parade to begin. The couple was sitting with their family near Crowne Plaza Hotel on Weidler when they heard a commotion coming from the other end of the street.
“It was not like he was lost and he was trying to get out,” Us said. “No, he was going fast.”
Moments before Mecham sped by, Us said a group of children had gathered in the street near a stand where Grand Floral Parade announcers were tossing out candy. She said a woman ran by warning people, so she and her sister grabbed their kids just before the truck went through the intersection.
“She was telling them to get out of the way,” Us said. “If it wasn’t for her, and we tried looking for her to thank her, some of those kids would have gotten ran over.”
Us said the incident turned the family’s first Grand Floral Parade into a scary ordeal, but they still managed to enjoy the parade after gathering themselves.
“We did not wake up expecting that,” Us said. “We see it all the time, videos people share where something similar happened and it’s not something that you think you would experience or you would go through. It was pretty scary, but we’re happy that it didn’t end any worse than just a scare.”
This was not the first time Portland paradegoers were threatened by a driver. In 2007, there were two incidents at the Rose Festival’s Junior Parade.
A Portland man pleaded guilty to recklessly endangering others for slowly plowing his way through dozens of middle school students getting ready to march in the parade. Portland police said the driver in that case was infuriated the street was closed off. Another driver, an 81-year-old woman, also pleaded guilty to recklessly endangering others after driving through barricades and police officers at the same parade. The woman was upset the parade was blocking her way home, police said.
Police said they want to hear from anyone who felt endangered by the driver at this year’s Grand Floral Parade. Victims should contact Baer at [email protected] and reference case number 23-152688.
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