“WHY DIDN’T THEY JUST GRAB HER?” — PAMELA CISNEROS’ MOTHER IS DEMANDING ANSWERS

There were so many police officers. So why couldn’t someone just grab her?

That is the question Pamela Cisneros’ mother is now asking after a horrifying confrontation in the middle of Times Square ended with her daughter being fatally shot by NYPD officers.

Pamela Cisneros, 49, had allegedly just attacked two strangers with knives when officers confronted her on Seventh Avenue.

One of the victims, 68-year-old Tak Kam, survived.

The second victim, 32-year-old Erin Piacenti, a Bank of America executive and new mother, died from her injuries.

Then came the confrontation that has now triggered a separate investigation.

“WHY DIDN’T THEY GRAB HER BY THE ARM?”

In an emotional interview with FOX 5 New York, Cisneros’ mother questioned why officers surrounding her daughter did not physically restrain her.

“There were so many police,” she said. “Why didn’t they grab her by the arm?”

Her question comes from a mother trying to understand how her daughter went from being surrounded by officers to dying on a Manhattan sidewalk just minutes later.

But the video and preliminary police account show that Cisneros was still holding two knives.

Officers repeatedly ordered her to drop them.

She refused.

According to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, officers spent roughly four minutes attempting to persuade Cisneros to surrender before deploying Tasers.

Three officers fired their Tasers.

They appeared to have no effect.

THEN SHE MOVED TOWARD THE OFFICERS

The New York Attorney General’s Office said Cisneros then moved toward officers while holding the knives.

Two officers fired their service weapons, striking her.

She was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

That sequence — particularly the final few seconds — is now at the center of the investigation.

The Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation has opened an inquiry into Cisneros’ death.

That investigation is required under New York law when a police or peace officer may have caused a civilian death. The opening of the investigation does not, by itself, mean investigators believe the officers acted improperly.

COULD THEY HAVE DONE SOMETHING DIFFERENT?

That is the question dividing people.

Some law-enforcement experts who reviewed footage said the officers’ use of deadly force appeared justified because Cisneros was armed and moving toward them.

But other experts questioned the officers’ positioning and tactics, particularly because the confrontation unfolded in one of the busiest areas of New York City, with civilians and other officers nearby.

One criminologist told The New York Times that the shooting itself could be justified while still raising questions about the tactics used before the shots were fired.

That distinction could become important as investigators reconstruct exactly what happened.

A FAMILY THAT DIDN’T SEE THIS COMING

Cisneros’ family has also been struggling to understand how the situation escalated so dramatically.

Her father, Mario Cisneros, said Pamela had experienced serious mental-health difficulties for years.

After a 2019 crisis, he began accompanying her to monthly medical appointments where she received injections that her family believed helped keep her stable.

But in April, he said, Pamela refused his offer to drive her to one of her appointments.

“Don’t worry about me,” she reportedly told him.

Her father believed she was doing better.

Months later, she was dead on a Times Square sidewalk.

THE QUESTIONS AREN’T GOING AWAY

The investigation now has to reconstruct those final moments frame by frame.

How close were the officers to Cisneros?

How quickly did she move toward them?

Could officers have safely used another tactic?

Were civilians placed in danger by the officers’ positions?

And most importantly, was the use of deadly force necessary at that exact moment?

Those answers will not come from one video clip or one emotional question.

They will come from body-camera footage, witness accounts, physical evidence and the independent investigation now underway.

For Pamela’s mother, however, the question is much simpler.

She saw several officers surrounding her daughter.

And she still wants to know:

“Why didn’t they just grab her?”

The investigation will now determine whether that was a realistic alternative — or whether the final seconds unfolded too quickly and dangerously for officers to safely intervene another way.