After refusing to pay for St. Paddy's Day pedal cab, rider attacked driver
What's happening?
A pedal cab ride in St. Patrick's Day St. Paul ended with a vicious beating for the driver.
Albert Darnell Cleveland, 21, of St. Paul, has been charged with 3rd degree assault following the altercation at 4:20 p.m. Saturday on Kellogg Boulevard.
He refused to pay the fare
According to the criminal complaint, Cleveland got into a dispute with a 58-year-old pedal cab driver at the end of the ride he'd given the 21 year old and a woman he was with.
The dispute turned physical, with officers later finding the cab driver sitting on the ground bleeding severely from the head "and appearing to have difficulty thinking."
It's alleged to have start when Cleveland hit the victim with a bottle, and several eyewitnesses walking by saw the man on the ground and Cleveland punching him, and kicking him in the head at least three times.
He then spat on him when the passers-by ran over and told him to stop, saying if they had not intervened he would have "beaten him bad," before saying: "Lucky I didn’t stick you."
When interviewed later, the victim told police they'd agreed a $30 price in advance but when they got to their destination, Cleveland and the woman tried to walk away without paying.
They got into an argument about the payment, which turned physical when Cleveland struck him with an aluminum bottle in the head and face.
