Knight, 43, is scheduled to appear in Las Vegas Justice Court on Sept. 26 to face the charges. He was booked into the Clark County Detention Center after police found him holding a knife and standing over a woman in the western Las Vegas Valley.

He was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, battery domestic violence, possession of a controlled substance and possession of dangerous drugs without a prescription, police said.

Police said the founder of bankrupt Death Row Records was arrested about 6:40 a.m. after officers arrived at the scene of a minor traffic accident and found Knight hitting a woman in a parking lot off a busy thoroughfare.

"A citizen sees the beating in a parking lot; police get there fast; they see him beating her.

It's a good, solid case," Las Vegas police Lt. Chris Carroll said.

The woman was not stabbed, but she was treated at a hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening.

Police did not release the woman's name or age but said she identified herself as Knight's girlfriend of three years.

"This is a very large man," Carroll said, estimating his weight at more than twice the woman's. "He was on top of her, actually in the act of violently beating her when the officers arrived, with the knife in his hand."