BUCKHANNON – A Buckhannon man was arrested this week after allegedly cutting a woman’s hand with a knife.
Brian Reed, 47, of Buckhannon, was arrested Sunday for malicious assault, domestic battery and domestic assault.
According to the criminal complaint in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s Office filed by investigating officer Cpl. P.J. Robinette with the Buckhannon detachment of the West Virginia State Police, on March 24, 2024, at approximately 7:23 p.m., Cpl. S.W. Shahan and Robinette arrived on Vicksburg Road in reference to a domestic disturbance that was dispatched through the Upshur County Communications E-911 Center.
Robinette found Reed on the porch while Cpl. Shahan spoke with the victim inside the residence.
“While speaking with the accused, he stated he and [the victim] had been involved in a verbal altercation in which they were yelling back and forth,” Robinette wrote in the complaint.
Reed told the officer that he and the victim were the only two individuals inside their bedroom at such time. Robinette then asked Reed if anything physical had occurred between the two, to which he allegedly replied, “No sir.”
Robinette continued speaking with Reed about their living situation, and during the conversation, Reed allegedly said the victim “grabbed his knife up,” according to the complaint.
“[Reed] continued to state [the victim] was ‘in there messing with my knife’ and she cut herself in the process,” Robinette wrote in the complaint. “The accused stated [the victim] was ‘spinning’ the knife around and cut herself while stating, ‘I’d never do anything to hurt [her].'”
Robinette then entered the residence and spoke with the victim, who was seated on a bed with toilet paper wrapped around her hand and crying. Robinette asked the victim what happened, and she allegedly replied, “I was flipping the knife up and down in the bathroom.”
Robinette then asked to see the cut on her hand, and the victim showed the trooper an approximately three-inch laceration on her right hand, in which the fatty tissue of her hand was exposed.
Robinette then retrieved the knife involved in the altercation from the bathroom, a four to five-inch fixed black blade Gerber knife with a black and orange handle. He asked her to show how she was “flipping” the knife.
According to the report, the victim would not look at Robinette or answer the question. The victim then stated, “I’m just done with him, OK?”
“The victim then stated she and the accused were inside the bathroom yelling back and forth, at which time she stated she was going to go to her daughters,” the complaint states. “The victim then stated the accused flung the knife up in an upward motion to turn the light on, at which point the knife flew out of his hand and cut hers.”
Robinette then asked why the knife was in his hand to begin with and if he was saying anything prior to trying to turn the light on.
“The victim then advised the accused told her before he would see her with anyone else, he would take her life while holding the knife,” Robinette wrote in the complaint.
Robinette then asked the victim to recreate the situation in the bathroom, and she allegedly “demonstrated the slashing motion he used to cut her hand,” according to the complaint. The victim was seen by EMS, who wrapped her hand and said she would require stitches.
Bail was set at $15,000 cash only by Upshur County Magistrate Mark Davis.
The potential penalty for malicious assault is confinement in a state correctional facility for not less than two nor more than 10 years. The potential penalty for domestic battery is confinement in jail for not more than 12 months, a fine of not more than $500, or both. The potential penalty for domestic battery is confinement in jail for not more than six months, a fine of not more than $100, or both.
