Police pop parade-crashing Montavilla pot peddler

The barricade-smashing granny wasn’t the only problem driver threatening the Portland Rose Festival Children’s Parade this week. You’ll be amazed to read what this guy did‚ and what he had in his car, and at his East County home‚

Story by David F. Ashton
Just as the annual Portland Rose Festival Children’s Parade was getting underway at 12:30 p.m. on June 5, the 9-1-1 Call Center started getting calls about a Ford Focus automobile that had crashed through a barricade near the intersection of NE 56th Avenue and Sacramento Street.

Once through the barricades, police say the driver ended up in the parade’s staging area. There, they say, the errant driver hit a parked car and kept going. The Ford bumped into a participant, who hopped up on the hood of the car to avoid being hurt.

“From there,” reported Portland Police Bureau spokesman, Sgt. Brian Schmautz, “The driver found himself stuck behind a large group of junior high students lining up to march in the parade. Taking the path of least resistance, he began to drive through the crowd of students at a very slow speed. Officers on the other side of the parade line quickly converged on the car, and took the driver into custody.”

Police find four ounces of pot
Police identified the parade-crashing driver as 35-year-old Joshua Cohen, an East County resident, and placed him under arrest.

Police charged Joshua Cohen Possession, Delivery, and Manufacture of Marijuana, after they found a growing operation in his Montavilla home.

“Hand prints on the windshield of Cohen’s car helped officers determine that this may have been the same car just reported as being involved in the hit and run,” Schmautz added. “Officers ordered a tow for Cohen’s car, and conducted an inventory search. Officers located approximately one-quarter pound of marijuana.”

East County suspect’s problems grow
As cops continued to question Cohen, he indicated that he had a marijuana grow operation at his Montavilla residence, in the 8400 block of Southeast Alder Street.

Schmautz told us Drugs and Vice Division officers searched Cohen’s home, and, with his consent, removed about 20 growing marijuana plants from his residence.

“Cohen was cited and released, and charged with one count each of Possession, Delivery, and Manufacture of Marijuana, and the two counts of “Failing to Perform the Duties of a Driver [Hit and Run],” commented Schmautz.

© 2007 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News Service

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