The driver of a pickup truck that plowed past a blockade and down part of the Rose Festival’s Grand Floral Parade route in Northeast Portland on Saturday is a registered sex offender stemming from sex-related crimes in Multnomah and Clatsop counties and was previously convicted of driving with a suspended license.
“Out of the way! Out of the way! What is this guy doing?” a woman could be heard yelling along Northeast Weidler Street as Areff Mohammed Ali recorded the silver pickup driving past his family and continuing east on the crowded street as parents scrambled to grab their children out of the driver’s path.
“Once I heard the squealing of tires, I thought, ‘What is that?’” Ali recalled.
Ali, 32, his wife, and two children, a 1-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter, were seated on the curb of a traffic island close to the Weidler Street exit ramp from Interstate 5.
When he heard the squealing of tires, he turned back and saw the silver pickup drive onto the ivy-covered hillside past two large state transportation dump trucks that had been set up at the edge of the freeway exit ramp to block traffic from entering the parade route.
The silver pickup then drove around several smaller state transportation rescue trucks.
“He hopped on the curb, and he pressed on his gas so fast,” Ali said. “I thought he was trying to ram into people, aiming to kill someone because there was no reason for him to go past the two barriers.”
Ali said his wife, Jessica Ali, held onto both their children, “as we tried to figure out what was happening.”
Portland police Officer David Baer, who was on a police motorcycle escorting parade floats that morning, said he was just about to grab a Red Bull energy drink at the nearby 7-Eleven off Weidler Street when people waiting for the parade alerted him to the truck that had entered the parade route shortly after 10 a.m.
Baer pulled up behind it.
“Go, go get him!” Areff Ali could be heard shouting on his video, as Baer activated the emergency lights and siren on his motorcycle and followed the truck.
Areff Ali said he got a quick glimpse of the pickup driver’s face.
“He seemed like he was in a road rage, angry at the blockage,” Areff Ali said. “I’m glad there was a police officer able to see everything…to see how aggressive the driver was.”
The pickup driver, later identified as Sidney Sean Mecham, 42, didn’t stop for Baer, but turned south onto Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, police said. Baer pulled alongside the truck and told him to pull over, but he refused, according to police.
The officer then drove ahead of the truck to warn pedestrians but got out of the way when it appeared the pickup was going to ram into his motorcycle, according to police.
The pickup turned on Northeast Wasco Street and drove directly toward families seated on the curb waiting for the parade, ran through another barricade, causing volunteers to scatter to avoid getting struck, according to police.
With the help of a police plane flying overhead, other officers followed the pickup, and it eventually stopped at Northeast 24th and Clackamas Street. Mechem was arrested and booked into Multnomah County Detention Center at 11:23 a.m. Saturday.
The Oregon Department of Transportation posted dump trucks and agency rescue pickup trucks near the I-5 northbound exit ramp to keep traffic off the Grand Floral parade route.Courtesy Of Areff Mohammed Ali
Mecham is a registered sex offender who has prior convictions from 1999 for attempted first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy in Multnomah County, and 2016 convictions for third-degree sodomy and third-degree sexual abuse in Clatsop County, according to state records.
His 1999 convictions stemmed from conduct that occurred when Mecham was 15 years old, according to court records. He was sentenced at age 17 to three years in prison, and served the time at MacLaren Youth Correctional Institution. He was ordered to register as a sex offender and not frequent places or work anywhere where children congregate, such as playgrounds, schools and swimming pools.
But once he was out of custody, he continually violated his probation, failing to abide by curfew, “not be in a car with minor boys,” not take drugs and not have contact with relatives of his victim, according to court records. As a result, his probation was revoked in 2003 and he was ordered to serve another three years and two months in prison.
In 2016, he was sentenced to two years and four months in prison for sexually abusing a 16-year-old boy while living in Warrenton. He also was convicted of furnishing alcohol and marijuana to the boy.
In 2019, Mecham was cited for driving while suspended. Upon payment of a fine, his driver’s license was reinstated in April 2020, according to court records.
He last registered with the state as a sex offender in February and provided an address in Southeast Portland.
He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday at 2 p.m. in Multnomah County Circuit Court on a felony allegation of fleeing a police officer, and four misdemeanor allegations of reckless driving, second-degree disorderly conduct, recklessly endangering another person and failure to perform duties of a driver after causing property damage.
— Maxine Bernstein
Email mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212
Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian
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