Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to take over all KPD, KCSO officer-involved shooting investigations

Posted: Apr 7, 2020 / 03:19 PM EDT

Updated: Apr 8, 2020 / 10:41 AM EDT

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Knox County District Attorney Charme Allen said Tuesday her office requested the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to conduct all officer-involved shootings investigations related to Knox County and Knoxville law enforcement agencies.

This comes after a Knox County deputy shot and killed the suspect in a fatal triple-stabbing Tuesday morning at a truck stop on Strawberry Plains Pike. The TBI is launching a probe into the incident and is taking over the investigation from local law enforcement.

Before the decision, Knox County Sheriff’s Office and the Knoxville Police Department had traded officer-involved shooting investigations as a means for agency accountability.

Allen released a statement about the decision:

“Historically, our policy has been for KPD to investigate any KCSO officer-involved shooting and KCSO to investigate any KPD officer-involved shooting. TBI has always investigated all in-custody deaths of inmates for our jurisdiction. Recently, in order to have uniform consistency in the investigation of these incidents, Chief Thomas, Sheriff Spangler, and I have discussed using the TBI for all officer-involved shootings. We have decided to follow the majority of our colleagues across the state, and I will now request that TBI conduct all of our officer-involved shootings for both KPD and KCSO.”
KNOX COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY CHARME ALLEN

TBI Investigating Series of Stabbings, Officer-Involved Shooting in Knox County https://t.co/sd9NAHngwI
— Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (@TBInvestigation) April 7, 2020