Spooked St. Paul police horse crashes into Midway cafe

Near one of St. Paul's busiest intersections, a car has smashed through the front of a coffee shop, but never, until this week, a horse.

With concrete work being done in the area of University and Snelling avenues, a St. Paul police horse was spooked when some equipment dropped to the ground and made a loud noise Tuesday afternoon, said officer John Keating, police spokesman.

The horse, Black Jack, spun around and his hindquarters struck a window, Keating said. One of the front windows at Midway Rendezvous Coffee, measuring 8 by 10 feet, shattered.

The breaking glass cut Black Jack, and he was brought to the University of Minnesota Equine Center for treatment, Keating said.

"He's on stall rest for a week, but he'll be just fine," Keating said.

The window at the coffee shop at 518 N. Snelling Ave. remained boarded up Thursday, the one next to it was taped because it had cracked, and another one was loose, said Dawit Jida, whose wife owns Midway Rendezvous Coffee.

Jida said he believed a large truck — a cement mixer — outside led to the horse "just panicking and backing up" into the window.

"It was just like an explosion," he said of the window shattering.

When it happened, customer Atnafu Yeshivagne said he was worried about Catherine McGuire, the officer partnered with Black Jack.

"I was hoping she wasn't going to fall," he said. "I was afraid for her." McGuire was not toppled, he said.

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