Man faces jail time for allegedly throwing a cat at a police officer

Cats don’t like to be thrown, which, in a roundabout way, makes them a particularly dangerous projectile when you’re in a pinch.

A Russian man is facing up to five years in prison after he allegedly turned a cat into a flying weapon of fur, claws and fury in an altercation with a police officer.

Gennady Shcherbakov, 59, faces criminal charges of violence against police in connection with an incident at an apartment building in Moscow, Russia, according to the news channel Baza on Telegram.

The charges were announced on Wednesday, just over a year after the incident occurred on Oct. 4, 2018, according to the Moscow Times. The crime is punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of 200,000 rubles ($4,147).

The altercation occurred while police were responding to a noise complaint about a man in the stairwell of an apartment building in Moscow. An officer found the suspect and a cat on the stairs and tried to get the man to go home.

The suspect allegedly grabbed the cat like a “suitcase,” shook it, then thrust it at the officer, according to the Baza report. The cat seriously scratched the officer, according to REN TV.

Shcherbakov has said the cat jumped on the police officer of its own volition.

It’s unclear who owned the cat, or what happened to it after the altercation.