NYPD's Own Taser Trainer Explains Why Three Shocks Couldn't Stop Times Square Killer Pamela Cisneros

A retired NYPD detective who wrote the force's Taser training material has set out why three shocks failed to stop Times Square killer Pamela Cisneros. The 49-year-old Queens woman stabbed two people on the afternoon of 31 August, killing one, before officers confronted her with knives in both hands.

Three officers discharged Tasers with no apparent effect. She then moved toward them and two officers fired, New York's Attorney General said on 2 September.

Why the NYPD Taser Trainer Says Three Shocks Failed

Artur Sadowski, a retired detective and Axon master instructor who spent 12 years as an instructor at the NYPD's Firearms and Tactics Section writing stun-device lesson plans, said conducted-energy weapons require both probes to make solid contact so current can lock muscles.

Sadowski said the distance and Cisneros's erratic movement could have made a reliable circuit unlikely. He also said body fat could have limited the probes' ability to affect the muscles. 'The thicker the padding in front of the muscles, the more difficult it is for the taser to get to the muscles and be effective,' he said.

Video suggested at least one strike to the abdomen, an area with more tissue than the back or rear of the legs. One probe also hit a purse wrapped around her torso, breaking the circuit needed for neuromuscular incapacitation.

Even connected probes can be blunted by a narrow spread, thick clothing or fat. Sadowski judged that at least three Tasers were fired in roughly a second, with a possible fourth as shots were discharged.

The Four-Minute Standoff After Two Stabbings

Cisneros produced two kitchen knives from a red Target bag and stabbed a 68-year-old Rhode Island visitor near West 41st Street and Seventh Avenue at about 4:24pm. Within about 20 seconds she fatally stabbed Erin Piacenti, 32, a Bank of America vice-president from New Jersey who had recently become a mother.

Officers located Cisneros on Seventh Avenue between West 42nd and 43rd Streets beside an NYPD substation. They engaged her in dialogue for four minutes and issued numerous commands to drop the knives. She refused. Commissioner Jessica Tisch said she told officers she was not dropping anything and would rather kill them, repeating that she would kill them.

'Multiple officers discharged Tasers which proved to be ineffective and the subject continued to advance towards our officers with the knives,' Tisch said.

Two officers then used their service weapons. Cisneros was taken to Bellevue Hospital and pronounced dead. She had documented mental-health contacts with the NYPD in 2018 and 2019 and no arrest history.

Inquiry Opened Into the Police Shooting

Attorney General Letitia James's Office of Special Investigation opened an investigation into Cisneros's death on 2 September. Under New York Executive Law Section 70-b, OSI assesses cases in which a police or peace officer may have caused a person's death. The account released so far is preliminary and may change.

Relatives said she had struggled with mental illness for decades, including postpartum depression, multiple hospitalisations and a previous suicide attempt involving subway tracks. Her brother said she had shown no violence toward others before Monday.