OFFICE OF THE

COMMONWEALTH’S ATTORNEY FOR THE CITY OF LYNCHBURG

MONUMENT TERRACE BUILDING
901 CHURCH STREET
LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA 24504
(434) 455-3760
FAX (434) 846-5038
WWW.OCALYNCHBURG.COM

BETHANY A. S. HARRISON DIRECT PHONE NUMBER

(434) 455-3778
Commonwealth’s Attorney E-MAIL ADDRESS
For Immediate Release BHARRISON@OCALYNCHBURG.COM
December 20, 2023

COMMONWEALTH’S ATTORNEY REPORT

Re: Use of Force November 10, 2023, 5139 Boonsboro Rd. Lynchburg, VA
Involving Tony Lee Brown and Officer Bryce Knowles

As Commonwealth’s Attorney for the City of Lynchburg, I was tasked with the
determination of whether the use of force by Lynchburg Police Department Officer Bryce Knowles
on November 10, 2023 amounted to a criminal offense. The purpose of this investigation is not to
determine the appropriateness of any Lynchburg Police Department (LPD) policy, procedure, or
tactic but solely for the purpose of determining if a criminal act was committed during the
encounter with Tony Lee Brown. In making my determination, I reviewed reports provided by the
Virginia State Police who investigated the matter, body worn camera (BWC) footage of the event,
medical records for Brown and a juvenile involved in the event, computer aided dispatch (CAD)
records, and interviews of Officer Knowles, citizen witnesses, and statements by other officers at
the scene. Brown, through his attorney, declined an interview regarding the use of force. Based
upon the law and the evidence in this matter, it is my opinion Officer Knowles’ actions amounted
to a justifiable use of deadly force and no criminal charges are warranted.

Summary of the Facts

The following events are documented in reports, witness interviews, and BWC footage:
On Friday, November 10, 2023 at 6:53 a.m., Lynchburg’s Emergency Communications received
a call from a third party who reported her neighbor was being stabbed by a man with a knife. When
Officer Knowles arrived at 5139 Boonsboro Rd. in the city of Lynchburg at 6:59 a.m., he was told
by a woman on scene that a woman was being stabbed behind the house. The woman pointed the
officer in the direction of the person being stabbed. The officer unholstered his LPD issued firearm
and ran in the direction the woman pointed. Officer Knowles wore his LPD issued uniform
displayed his badge of authority.

As the officer ran to the scene, he heard a woman cry for help and heard screaming. He
came upon two people on the ground, one male and one female. The male was later identified as
Tony Lee Brown and the female was Nicole Rosser. Rosser was covered in blood. Brown had a
knife in his hand and appeared to the officer he was stabbing Rosser as the officer approached. In
close proximity to Brown and Rosser were another adult woman and a juvenile male. Officer
Knowles called out “hey!” twice and “stop!” twice. The officer yelled “stop now!” while pointing
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his firearm at Brown and less than 20 feet away from Brown. The officer called out “stop!” again.
Brown did not respond to any commands by the officer and continued to make stabbing motions
toward Rosser.

The officer fired at Brown twice striking him in the chest and head. As the officer shot
Brown, a knife can be seen on the BWC come out of Brown’s hand. The officer rendered first aid
to Rosser and Brown as medics came onto the scene. Fifteen seconds passed from the time the
officer arrived on scene until he fired shots.

The juvenile male on scene stood behind and to the right of Brown and Rosser when the
officer shot at Brown. The juvenile suffered injuries to his thigh. Due to the limited ability of the
juvenile to communicate, it is assumed his injuries are from bullet projectile ricochet from Officer
Knowles’ gunfire. The juvenile was treated at the hospital and released the same day.

Legal Analysis

In a 2018 per curiam opinion, the United States Supreme Court summarized the controlling
legal standard as to when an officer may use deadly force:

[W]hether an officer has used excessive force “requires careful attention to the facts
and circumstances of each particular case, including the severity of the crime at
issue, whether the suspect possess an immediate threat to the safety of the officers
or others, and whether he is actively resisting arrest or attempting to evade arrest
by flight. The ‘reasonableness’ of a particular use of force must be judged from the
perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision
of hindsight. The calculus of reasonableness must embody allowance for the fact
that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgements – in
circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving – about the amount of
force that is necessary in a particular situation.”

Kisela v. Hughes, 584 U.S. ____ (2018) (quoting Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 396 (1989)).

An officer is entitled to use deadly force to protect himself or others only if the amount of
force was not excessive and was reasonable in relation to the perceived threat:

The use of deadly force is an act of necessity and the necessity must be shown to
exist or there must be shown such reasonable apprehension of imminent danger, by
some overt act, as to amount to the creation of necessity. The right to kill in self-
defense begins when the necessity begins and ends when the necessity
ends…Imminent danger is defined as an immediate and perceived threat to one’s
safety or the safety of others.

Couture v. Commonwealth, 51 Va. App. 239 (2008).

VA Code Sec. 19.2-83.5 lists factors to be considered when determining if a law

enforcement officer properly used deadly force. Here Officer Knowles was required to make quick
decisions to stop what appeared to be a man using a deadly weapon to repeatedly stab a woman

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who was already covered in blood. The man did not respond to the officer’s numerous calls to
stop. The officer’s use of force was not excessive as he fired twice and did not continue to fire
when it was apparent the attacker was incapacitated. Officer Knowles was the first and only officer
on scene at the time of the shooting and he could not reasonably wait for more officers nor
physically engage with the attacker as he risked serious injury to himself. I find that Officer
Knowles acted reasonably under the circumstances to obtain Brown’s compliance. When Brown
did not comply with the officer’s commands to stop stabbing Rosser, Officer Knowles acted in
defense of others when he shot Brown.

Assuming the juvenile male suffered injury to his thigh due to bullet projectile ricochet, I
do not find that this was due to reckless or criminally negligent behavior of Officer Knowles.
Officer Knowles limited his fire to two shots aimed directly at Brown where he hit his intended
target. The juvenile was not in the direct trajectory of fire but was at a significant angle to the right
of the aim of the officer. Unfortunately, the bullet projectile that passed through Brown may have
broken to pieces on the concrete pad or house behind Brown and then hit the juvenile. Criminal
negligence entails acting with a reckless disregard for human life. Here Officer Knowles acted to
preserve the life of others in an emergency situation, attempted to stop the situation with verbal
commands, and, only when that was not effective, used an amount of deadly force necessary to
stop the attack where no citizens were directly behind his line of fire.

The body worn camera footage will not be released as Tony Lee Brown recovered from
the shooting and faces pending criminal charges from these events. This report contains all
comments by my office on this case at this time.

Bethany Harrison
Commonwealth’s Attorney
for the City of Lynchburg