Russell Brand has been named in a police report in New Orleans tonight ... 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 that went down a few hours ago.
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.
Calls to Brand's rep have not been returned.