A St. Paul man has been charged with animal cruelty for allegedly throwing a stray cat onto a roof, injuring it before it then fell to its death.

Davonte Jacobs, 21, was charged Monday in Ramsey County District Court with animal cruelty and mistreatment/killing of a companion animal.

Jacobs told police the apparent stray cat came into his Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood apartment in the 700 block of Conway Street on Sunday afternoon and scared his children, so he chased it out.

The cat stayed on his front step, so he told police that he scooped it up with a shovel and threw it “as far as he could,” according to the criminal complaint in the case.

The cat landed on the roof of an adjacent building. Jacobs’ family members, as well as an anonymous 911 caller, said the cat then fell off the roof and died of its injuries.

Police retrieved the cat’s body from a nearby waste bin. The anonymous caller told police the cat was “mewing in agony” on the ground before it died as Jacobs laughed, the complaint said.