(TMZ) Russell Brand has been named in a police report in New Orleans last night ... by a paparazzo who claims the actor snatched his cell phone out of his hand and fired it through the window of an abandoned building ... TMZ has learned. Sources tell TMZ .. a photog named Timothy Jackson filed the report, citing "criminal damages" over an incident.
We're told ... Jackson claimed he was with a group of photogs ... when he began to shoot Brand with his iPhone. Jackson claims Brand flipped out, wrestled the phone out of his hand ... and then Nolan Ryan'd it at a nearby building, shattering a glass window.
We're told the pap immediately filed a police report. No word if he got his phone back.
Law enforcement tells TMZ ... cops are investigating the incident and would like to speak with Brand as soon as possible. more on this story
