Customer Stories
Getty Square, the heart of Yonkers, is a crossroads of commerce, transit, and community life. Storefronts line the streets, buses come and go in waves, and students spill onto the sidewalks every afternoon. It's a central bus stop hub and patrol officers help ensure there’s no loitering, no trouble—just everyone getting home safe. It’s the kind of place where the tempo can shift in an instant. On one day in March 2025, it did.
Officers Courtney McCormack and Alyssa Petrucelli were just a few blocks away from the square—they had just left after a routine after-school patrol and were headed back to the precinct when the call came over the radio— plainclothes officers had eyes on a man walking through the area, holding a large knife—a danger to the bystanders and those officers working to deescalate the situation.
The two uniformed officers didn’t hesitate. “We should go, turn back and go help them out,” said McCormack. “We knew, going into it, that they were plainclothes officers, so they didn’t have as many weapons options as we did, we definitely carry more than than they do.” Including a TASER energy weapon.
Petrucelli, behind the wheel, swung the cruiser around and drove to back up the officers. “I made sure I parked the car in kind of a specific area, just in case we need cover and concealment… I didn’t want to block the roadway,” she said.
Then came the shout from one of the detectives already on scene: “Get your TASER [energy weapon] out!”
They ran toward the suspect. “He had a knife in his right hand. It’s very large,” Petrucelli said. “We had the advantage of approaching from behind him. He didn’t see us. He didn’t hear us until the first TASER [energy weapon] was deployed.”
McCormack fired her TASER energy weapon first. “Only one prong hit, but we were able to see it stopped him a little bit,” she said. “I was actually about ready to fire my second one when [Officer Petrucelli] fired… both prongs hit and gave a good, full body lock.”
In the middle of a crowded intersection, surrounded by foot traffic and businesses, the man was taken into custody and no one was hurt. “You stand up after getting him into handcuffs,” McCormack said, “and you kind of have that sigh of relief.”
“It couldn’t have been more perfect.” Petrucelli said. “He landed. He dropped the knife. I had just gone to our training, our annual training, maybe two weeks prior.”
As Yonkers Training Division Captain Vincent Castelli put it: “We build muscle memory. Our theory is that the more we do things the more natural they become. We're required to do TASER [energy weapon] training every year. But we change certain things about it—a scenario—because we want it to be repetitive. We want it to be second nature in stressful situations. We want our officers to be able to revert to their training. If you do it enough, it becomes natural.”
Yonkers Police Commissioner Christopher Sapienza remembers what policing was like decades ago. “I remember specifically one time... there was this giant, an emotionally disturbed person on one of our main roads... I was in the fight for my life... and you can't help to think if I only had a tool like that.” He continued, “What we've seen with TASER [energy weapon] is, we see it's a viable tool. It actually works. Our officers choose it as their go-to less-lethal option.”
That same muscle memory used in Getty Square was tested again just days later, during a fast-moving pursuit that spilled from the Saw Mill Parkway into the streets of Yonkers. Officers pursued a vehicle after it fled from a traffic stop in Westchester County. The chase ended in a crash. Two suspects ran on foot.
Officer Jean Cabral and his partner had been on patrol for about an hour when the call came in. “My partner and I were approximately a quarter mile from where county was pursuing this vehicle,” he said. “We see the car going the opposite way… the car was just going through our city streets, and we join in on the pursuit.”
They soon became the primary unit. “The suspect vehicle then went down a dead end street where it crashed, and my partner and I were right behind it. And that’s where a foot pursuit began. I see two suspects exit the driver’s side door and run into the park. I immediately run right after them… I’m giving them warnings that I’m going to [deploy my TASER energy weapon] if they continue to run.”
The driver—wearing a red jacket—jumped a fence into a wooded area by the train tracks. Officer Cabral followed. “Once he jumps over the fence. He turns around, and that’s when I had the best opportunity… my only option at that point was to use my TASER [energy weapon], to stop him. We needed a way to stop him before he continued to flee,” he said. “And the best option was a TASER [energy weapon] being that it was less-lethal.”
“I didn’t really think about it,” he added. “That slowed him down tremendously… we got them, which was the ultimate goal—just to detain them and bring them into custody.”
Two other suspects were also arrested following the pursuit, one of the suspects also taken into custody with a TASER energy weapon. Following a search of the suspect vehicle, officers found illegal guns and drugs.
Commissioner Sapienza emphasized that incidents like these are exactly what TASER energy weapons are meant for. “It’s a great equalizer. Really doesn’t matter how big you are. It doesn’t matter how strong you are. It’s a tool that every one of our officers can use.”
He recalled watching footage from the knife incident: “You know, I’m proud that our officers showed such restraint... we knew we needed a marked radio car with TASER [energy weapon]. And you know, it’s almost like you watch the video. And we’re sitting there saying, ‘Please let someone get here with a TASER [energy weapon]. Everybody was waiting for it to arrive, basically. And in this case, it worked out.”
Two cases, two very different use cases and situations. One in the middle of rush hour foot and car traffic. The other at the end of a vehicle pursuit, with suspects fleeing on foot toward train tracks and neighborhoods.
Different challenges, same result: in custody and no one hurt.
In both cases, the training held. The tools used as they were meant to be— deployed with good judgment, restraint and precision.
From a crowded city square to fast-moving foot chases, these moments reflect a department prepared to make tough decisions in an instant—and committed to ending them safely.