Russell Brand has been arrested for criminal damage after police in the US issued a warrant for him.

The controversial comic was detained “without incident” in New Orleans and released shortly afterwards after posting bail, police said.

Police had issued a warrant on a charge of simple criminal damage to property valued at $700 (€535), after a photographer accused the comedian of grabbing his iPhone and throwing it through a window.

Bail was set at $5,000 (€3,832), a spokesman for the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) said.

Mr Brand, 36, is in New Orleans to work on an untitled film.

Remi Braden, director of public affairs at NOPD, said: “Officers picked up Mr Brand from Harrah’s Casino, where he was working on the film. He was arrested without incident.”

Mr Brand had claimed he took the phone as “a tribute” to Apple boss Steve Jobs who died last year.

He grabbed the phone while a photographer was using it to take pictures of him in New Orleans on Monday and threw it away, smashing the window of a nearby office, according to website TMZ.

Mr Brand tweeted his fans: “Since Steve Jobs died I cannot bear to see anyone use an iphone irreverently, what I did was a tribute to his memory.”

The Essex-born star split from his wife, pop star Katy Perry, last year after 14 months of marriage.