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Dramatic video shows truck plow through parade route
Video taken from the suspect's own dashboard camera shows people screaming and running for their lives as he speeds down a Portland, Oregon parade route.
PORTLAND, Ore. - A suspect’s own dashcam video shows the terrifying moments when a registered sex offender plowed through a parade route in a fit of rage.
The video, obtained by FOX TV Stations in a public records request, is recorded from the dashcam of 42-year-old Sidney Mecham, who was indicted in June on 38 charges tied to his rampage.
The video is recorded from three angles and shows Mecham grow increasingly frustrated with highway traffic and road closures for the parade. At one point while driving, Mecham’s phone rings.
"They got it all blocked off … Every mother f***ing exit!" Mecham screams into his phone while honking his horn and flipping off the workers who blocked exits.
From there, he runs over traffic cones and drives his Chevrolet Avalanche truck onto an embankment to get around Oregon Department of Transportation trucks. Video shows Mecham turn right onto the route of the city’s Grand Floral Parade. People can be seen screaming and jumping out of the way as he plows through chairs and barricades.
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Watch: Enraged driver jumps embankment, plows into parade
Video recorded by the suspect's dashboard camera shows the moment he drove his truck onto an embankment to get around highway workers before turning onto a parade route.
Police try to stop Mecham multiple times, but he ignores their demands to stop the truck. At one point, he turns off of the parade route and runs through more barricades, nearly hitting more parade-goers, video shows.
Mecham was eventually detained and taken to jail. According to KGW, he was driving with a suspended license and didn’t have insurance.
Prosecutors with the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office submitted Mecham’s dashcam video as evidence in a hearing to keep him in jail while awaiting trial, KGW reported. A judge granted prosecutors’ request.
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Mecham is charged with 17 counts of unlawful use of a weapon; 15 counts of recklessly endangering another person; two counts of failing to perform the duties of a driver; one count of second-degree attempted assault; one count of reckless driving; one count of attempting to assault a public safety officer, and one count of attempting to elude police by car.
No injuries were reported at the summer parade.
Mecham is a registered sex offender. Records from the Oregon Sex Offender Registry show he was convicted in 1999 on sodomy and rape charges, then again in 2016 on sodomy and sex abuse charges.