A pedal cab driver agreed to give a man and woman a ride in St. Paul on St. Patrick’s Day. But he wound up on the receiving end of an assault that ended with him hospitalized with four facial fractures, according to prosecutors.

Albert Darnell Cleveland struck the 58-year-old in the head and face with an aluminum bottle and then kicked him repeatedly in the head when he was on the ground, said the criminal complaint against him.

Bystanders intervened and police arrested Cleveland, who had blood on his boots.

Police were called to an altercation at 4:20 p.m. Saturday near Cathedral Hill Park in the 300 block of West Kellogg Boulevard, north of Interstate 35E.

They found the pedal cab driver “bleeding severely from the head and appearing to have difficulty thinking,” according to the complaint charging Cleveland with third-degree assault – substantial bodily harm.

A witness told police he ran over and told Cleveland to stop when he saw the driver on the ground and Cleveland kicking him in the head three times, the complaint said.

Another passerby described seeing Cleveland on top of the driver, punching and kicking him in the head; he said he also saw him spit at the driver. He reported that Cleveland said “if they had not intervened, he would have ‘beaten him bad.’ ”

Cleveland also told the driver afterward, “Lucky I didn’t stick you,” the complaint said.

Paramedics took the driver to the hospital.

The driver told police that the pair had agreed in advance to pay $30 for the ride. But when they arrived at their destination, they walked away without paying.

He asked them to pay and Cleveland refused, saying “he didn’t feel that the ride was worth the price,” the complaint said. He said Cleveland struck him with the bottle from behind after he began to walk away.

Cleveland, who didn’t talk to police, is scheduled to make his first court appearance Tuesday.