(WJXT-TV/CNN) -- A Florida man is accused of stealing his stepfather’s puppies, stuffing them into a pillow case and then dropping them into a storm drain.

Police arrested 39-year-old Ernest Martin of Jacksonville, Fla., on Saturday, but the incident happened in September 2016.

Surveillance video shows Martin throwing the puppies over a fence before he attempted to put them in the drain.

A neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said when Martin could not stuff all the puppies into one drain, he went to another one.

“When they started moving around, he was kicking them, trying to shove them back into the drain,” the witness said. “It just breaks my heart to see someone hurting animals like that.”

Martin’s mother told WJXT-TV that her son’s actions were the result of schizophrenia.

“When he saw the dogs, he thought they were little demons,” she said. “He goes through little spasms, but he put them in there. He put them in that ditch.”

All six puppies survived the attack after people in the neighborhood rescued them. One of them now lives with the stepfather, while the other puppies were given to family members.

Martin is facing six counts of abandoning animals in the street without providing for their welfare.

Courtesy WJXT via CNN Newsource