The age-old myth of black cats bringing bad luck held true for Tom Mackaman.
Just before an unidentified man mugged him at knife-point, a black cat crossed the path of the University student in an alley behind his Dinkytown apartment.
Mackaman, a College of Liberal Arts senior, said he wanted to get out of his stuffy apartment Sunday night to cool off. He planned to be gone for five minutes, when he noticed the cat, followed by a man.
“He seemed like he was going to ask for directions,” Mackaman said. “He said he forgot the address, but I think he was just stalling for time.”
Mackaman said there were people near the alley and the man seemed to wait for them to leave. He thought something was peculiar so he moved out onto 13th Avenue in front of his apartment.
Mackaman said he then heard a long knife being removed from a sheath.
The man told him to hand over all his money or he’d kill him, Mackaman said. “Then he took a couple of steps towards me. It was really scary.”
Mackaman handed the man his wallet, which contained between $25 and $40. The man told him if there wasn’t enough money in the wallet, he would come back and kill him. He then took off and climbed a fence by nearby train tracks and ran north away from campus.
Mackaman said during the incident all he was thinking of was how to get out of the situation as soon as possible. He added that he thought about running, but decided hecouldn’t outrun the suspect.
Immediately after, Mackaman called Minneapolis police and fixed himself a drink to relax.
Police arrived within 10 minutes. While he sat talking to police, drink in hand, the black cat walked by him again.
Minneapolis police officials said they have no suspects in the case and said muggings near Dinkytown are rare.
Mackaman said there was even more irony in the incident. He planned to take the bus to his brother’s house in St. Paul to pick up his car last week, but his mother told him not to.
“She told me I might get mugged,” he said.

In other police news:
ù Spring Jam weekend kept University Police extra busy.
Nearly 300 attendees broke down part of a fence, gaining free entrance to the Violent Femmes concert Saturday.
“Most of the people were probably intoxicated,” Sgt. Jo Anne Benson said. “It was basically a stampede.”
Benson said some concert staff members were injured when the fence came down on top of them. After the rush, officers patrolled the exterior to keep other people from getting in. No staff members sustained any major injuries.
Benson said because of the rush, officers weren’t able to cite more people for alcohol violations inside the concert.
But the carnival part of Spring Jam went smoothly, she said.
Police did cite Andrew B. Miller, 24, who is not affiliated with the University, for obstructing the legal process after he opened the back door of a squad car where officers had put his friend, University student Ryan Trebil, who was later cited for consuming alcohol in public.
“He opened the door because he wanted to talk to me,” said Trebil, 20. “But the police took it the wrong way.”

ù University Police also recorded 35 separate alcohol-related arrests or citations made in the last week. They ranged from drunken driving to possessing an open bottle.
“It is more than normal,” Benson said. She attributed the number of incidents to abnormally warm weather. She said people are outside more, sitting on decks or in yards having drinks.