At least three Tasers were fired in about a second near West 41st Street and Seventh Avenue in Times Square on Monday, but none stopped her from advancing. According to The New York Post a woman holding two knives kept moving toward the officers as they deployed their Tasers, with footage appearing to show at least one probe strike the middle of her stomach, according to retired NYPD detective and Taser expert Artur Sadowski.
The woman was identified as Pamela Cisneros, 49, who police say stabbed two people before officers confronted her. One victim, 32-year-old Erin Piacenti, a Bank of America executive who had celebrated her second wedding anniversary the previous month, died from her injuries.
The other victim, a 68-year-old man, was stabbed in the abdomen. Cisneros, who the Post said had long struggled with mental health issues, ignored officers’ pleas to drop the knives before charging at them. She was fatally shot by officers and died from her injuries.
Why didn’t the Tasers stop her?
Artur Sadowski, a retired NYPD detective who wrote the department’s Taser training playbook and later worked as an Axon master instructor, said several factors may explain why the Tasers failed to stop Cisneros. “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.
A Taser only works when both of its probes land and hold a clean connection, Sadowski explained, and the distance between Cisneros and the officers made that harder to pull off. One of the probes also struck the purse wrapped around her body, preventing the circuit from connecting and causing neuromuscular incapacitation. It wouldn’t be the first time officers have found themselves dealing with an armed person who kept moving after Tasers were deployed.
“Even when probes hit, a narrow spread, thick clothing, or body fat can limit the electrical effect,” Sadowski said, adding that areas like the back and the back of the legs carry less fat and tend to make Tasers more effective. Of Cisneros specifically, he said, “She may have felt pain or muscle cramping in her abdomen but not enough to stop her from advancing.”
The footage drew plenty of reaction once it circulated, with commenters taking different views of how officers handled the confrontation. One commenter argued the officers had little choice once Cisneros ignored the order to drop her knives, writing, “It’s drop the knife verbal command and if non compliance taser has to be deployed sooner than later.”
Another suggested the failed Taser deployments were not unusual, writing that “many other cases of similar failures have been reported, because target was too hopped up with dope or adrenaline.” Cisneros wasn’t the first person to turn their aggression toward police after a confrontation escalated. In another case, a Louisiana woman who had already caused chaos in her neighborhood ended up attacking officers who stepped in.
Other readers focused on the physical explanation. One put it bluntly, writing, “Given the size of the average American these days, either they change the force by which these things are released, or they go for something else.” Sadowski’s explanation touched on that point, as he identified body fat as one of several factors that may have limited the Taser’s electrical effect.
Sadowski counted at least three Taser cycles fired in under a second, with a possible fourth going off around the same moment officers opened fire.
Published: Sep 5, 2026 07:30 am