Why didn’t tasers work on Pamela Cisneros, Times Square stabber? Former NYPD cop explains how Queens woman was able to fend off high velocity electric currents meant to freeze one’s nerves.
A former NYPD detective has explained why police attempts to using Tasers on Times Square stabber, Pamela Cisneros were ineffective and why ultimately police were forced to use firepower to halt the woman who continued to defy cops demands to drop her two knives as she threatened to ‘kill’.
Artur Sadowski, a retired NYPD detective and Taser expert, speaking to the nypost times said Pamela Cisneros, 49, was able to fight off multiple Taser deployments because the officers were unable to make solid contact with the waddling killer. The chief culprits?
The suspect’s body fat, erratic movements — and her purse, which acted as a shield and fending off conduit of electrical charges.
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How does a Taser work?
“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 told the outlet, specifically citing Cisnero’s high body-fat as a negating factor.
A Taser works by shooting two small, barbed darts attached to conductive wires that deliver a electrical pulse to override the body’s neuromuscular system.
Sadowski, who wrote the Taser playbook that the NYPD used for training, noted that the devices can only work when both of its probes make solid contact — and that there was enough distance between the officers and jostling stabber to make that all but impossible.
During one attempt to tase the woman, electric currents emanating from the taser struck Cisnero’s purse, which was wrapped around her body — preventing the circuit in that case from connecting and causing neuromuscular incapacitation, a temporary stop of muscle control.
Repeated taser efforts could not bring down ‘high body’ fat woman
Captured footage showed the unfolding stand off moments after Cisneros having randomly stabbed two passerby’s on Monday, just on 4.30 p.m at West 42nd and 7th avenue in Times Square.
The woman is seen holding two knives in the air, wildly flailing her arms and refusing to yield to police officer demands to drop the two knives.
‘I’m not dropping anything, I would rather kill both of you. I will kill you,’ Cisneros tells cops.
Cisneros, who had a history of mental health issues and may have stopped taking medication she was prescribed for postpartum depression, which may have incited growing manic behavior, ignored cops’ repeated pleas to drop the knives
At some point, cops tase Cisneros as she started to wildly swing the knives in the air before eventually being fatally shot when she charged at them, footage shows.
High body fat, thick clothing limiting electrical effect
When the cops tried tasing her to bring her down, they appeared to hit her at least once in the middle of her stomach, Sadowski said.
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 like the back and back of the legs have less fat and make tasers more effective.
“She may have felt pain or muscle cramping in her abdomen but not enough to stop her from advancing.”
Sadowski said at least three tasers were fired off in about a second — with a possible fourth discharged right as Cisneros was gunned down by cops.
She died from her gunshot wounds at Bellevue Hospital, officials said.
The episode has since led to Cisneros mother demanding to know why police didn’t ‘just grab her daughter by the arms amid suggestions that police used excessive force in bringing down the 49-year old Queens woman.
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