Multiple NYPD officers fired Tasers at the knife-wielding woman behind Monday’s deadly Times Square stabbing rampage, but a combination of body fat, constant movement and a purse blocking one of the probes may have prevented the devices from incapacitating her, according to a former NYPD Taser expert.
Pamela Cisneros, 49, fatally stabbed 32-year-old Erin Piacenti and wounded a 68-year-old man before confronting police while armed with two knives. Artur Sadowski, a retired NYPD detective and Taser expert, said officers apparently struggled to establish the contact necessary for the devices to stop Cisneros as she continued moving toward them.
“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,” Sadowski said Tuesday of the body-fat factor.
Sadowski, who authored the Taser training guidelines used by the NYPD, explained that both probes fired from the device must make sufficient contact for it to achieve its intended effect. The distance separating the officers from Cisneros, combined with her erratic movements during the confrontation, made that considerably more difficult.
Complicating matters further, at least one of the probes apparently struck the purse Cisneros was wearing across her body. That prevented the electrical circuit from properly connecting and producing neuromuscular incapacitation, which temporarily causes a person to lose control of affected muscles.
Video footage of the chaotic confrontation shows NYPD officers encountering Cisneros near West 41st Street and Seventh Avenue shortly after she allegedly attacked the two victims. Cisneros, who reportedly had a lengthy history of mental health struggles, can be seen holding a knife in each hand.
Officers repeatedly ordered Cisneros to drop the weapons, but she refused and began wildly swinging the knives. Police deployed Tasers in an effort to subdue her, but when she continued advancing and charged toward the officers, they opened fire, fatally shooting her, according to the footage.
Sadowski said at least one of the Taser probes appeared to strike Cisneros around the center of her abdomen.
But “even when probes hit, a narrow spread, thick clothing, or body fat can limit the electrical effect,” the former Axon master instructor said, adding that areas such as the back and rear of the legs generally have less fat and can allow a Taser to work more effectively.
“She may have felt pain or muscle cramping in her abdomen but not enough to stop her from advancing.”
According to Sadowski, officers appeared to fire at least three Tasers within roughly one second, with a possible fourth deployment occurring at approximately the same time police fired their guns.
Cisneros was transported to Bellevue Hospital, where she died from the gunshot wounds, authorities said.
The woman killed in the attack, Erin Piacenti, was a University of Pennsylvania and Fordham Law School graduate who worked as an executive at Bank of America, according to reports. Sources said she succumbed to the injuries she suffered in the stabbing.
Piacenti had recently marked her second wedding anniversary in August, according to posts on social media.
The second victim, a 68-year-old man, suffered a stab wound to his abdomen.
