Portland resident Sidney Mecham, aged 42, has entered a plea of not guilty to a total of 38 charges, including the felony charge of unlawful use of a weapon and attempting to elude an officer. This comes after newly acquired dashcam footage emerged, capturing a reckless incident during the Rose Festival’s Grand Floral parade route in June.
The 30-minute video evidence, obtained through a public records request by KGW, provides three different angles: front-facing, rear-view, and within Mecham’s Chevy Avalanche. It begins with Mecham leaving a residence in Southeast Portland and chronicles a series of traffic infractions, such as speeding and running multiple red lights, as he navigates through Southeast Portland toward downtown.
Frustration escalates in Mecham as he encounters heavy traffic while heading westbound on Interstate 84. During a phone call captured on the video, he angrily mentions being on his way to the “Rose Garden,” though his exact destination remains unclear. Notably, the main event in the vicinity on June 10 was the Grand Floral parade, taking place at or near the Moda Center, formerly known as the Rose Quarter in North Portland.
Mecham’s anger intensifies further as he approaches the I-84 ramp toward northbound I-5. Various exits had been cordoned off by Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) crews using dump trucks, signs, and barricades to facilitate the parade’s safety.
During a second phone call, Mecham is heard exclaiming, “They got it all blocked off. The Lloyd Center exit. The Convention Center exit. Every mother f***ing exit!” He honks his horn repeatedly and makes obscene gestures at ODOT workers.
The video then captures Mecham recklessly swerving around a car and driving through a line of cones that blocked the Broadway-Weidler Street exit in North Portland. He bypasses an ODOT reader board flashing “Event in Progress” and veers onto the ivy-covered shoulder to evade ODOT dump trucks obstructing the exit ramp.
Mecham maneuvers around another ODOT crew and their vehicles before turning onto Weidler Street, coming dangerously close to several individuals waiting for the parade, including small children playing on the closed roadway.
Portland police motorcycle officer David Baer pursued Mecham’s truck and pulled alongside him, instructing him to pull over. However, Mecham refused to comply.
The situation escalated further as Mecham abruptly turned at Northeast Wasco Street, exiting the parade route, and drove through wooden barricades, narrowly avoiding several individuals.
An unmarked police SUV attempted to halt Mecham at a red light in Portland’s Lloyd District, but he evaded capture. The video concludes with Mecham continuing to drive for several blocks until he finally stopped near other officers at Northeast 24th Avenue and Clackamas Street, where he was subsequently arrested.
Additional charges related to the incident in June include driving on a suspended license and lacking insurance, according to police records.
Mecham is a registered sex offender, with previous convictions dating back to 1999 for attempted first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy in Multnomah County. In 2016, he was convicted of third-degree sodomy and third-degree sexual abuse in Clatsop County.
Currently, Mecham is detained at the Multnomah County Inverness Jail, with no trial date set for the charges stemming from the road incident in June.
