Why are there conflicting accounts of NYPD captain’s domestic violence case in Paterson?
PATERSON — Two law enforcement accounts compiled 355 days apart provide sharply conflicting versions of the alleged domestic assault involving New York City Police Capt. Hariton Marachilian on a dead-end street in Paterson at 3:05 a.m. on Dec. 10, 2022.
The police report filed by the Paterson officers who responded to the scene said the woman involved “had some visible injuries” but appeared drunk and “did not remember how or where” she got hurt.
The Paterson cops’ report said there was “no evidence of domestic violence,” and they allowed Marachilian to drive away, while the woman left with a friend.
The original incident report also contained the woman’s name, and Paterson Press has confirmed that she — like her accused attacker — is a captain in the New York City Police Department. The Paterson officers’ report did not mention that either Marachilian or the woman was a high-ranking New York cop.
Charges filed: NYPD officer charged with kidnapping in Paterson domestic violence investigation
But on Nov. 30, 2023, a sergeant in the Passaic County prosecutor’s Domestic Violence Unit filed an affidavit of probable cause that gave an entirely different account of what took place in Paterson, one that described in extensive detail Marachilian’s alleged assault on the woman, saying it happened in multiple locations in Paterson, both inside and outside his vehicle.
Charges filed for December 2022 incident
Marachilian was charged on Nov. 30 with kidnapping, aggravated assault, restraint and criminal coercion — accusations that the affidavit said were partly based on the body-camera video recordings from the initial encounter with Paterson police in December 2022.
The affidavit also said the woman had given the NYPD a written statement about the alleged attack and made a verbal statement to the Public Integrity Unit of the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office. The integrity unit referred the case to the domestic violence team, the affidavit said.
Neither the Prosecutor’s Office nor police officials in Paterson and New York would reveal what prompted detectives to investigate the case after Marachilian was let go on the night of the incident. The affidavit did not disclose when the woman gave her statements to the NYPD or the prosecutor’s integrity unit.
Neither the Prosecutor’s Office nor the Paterson police answered questions about the disparity between the initial police report and the affidavit filed almost a year later.
“The defendant has a history of stalking, harassment or terroristic threats (towards any victim),” the affidavit said about Marachilian.
That statement apparently refers to a sexual harassment lawsuit settled in 2022 for $800,000 in which another female NYPD captain accused Marachilian of making unwanted sexual comments to her, according to news accounts.
Marachilian also had an order of protection issued against him based on a complaint by a belly dancer who had performed at events for the NYPD’s Middle East and Turkic Society, of which Marachilian once was president, New York news accounts said. Marachilian was removed as commander of the Williamsburg precinct this year because of the belly dancer’s complaint, according to New York news stories.
The Paterson police report from last December said officers were called to 655 21st Ave. “for a report of a domestic assault." Marachilian and the woman were inside Marachilian’s SUV when the Paterson cops arrived at the scene, the report said.
Marachilian, who is 45, said he and the woman simply were having a verbal dispute about a $700 dinner tab among “a group of coworkers,” the police report said. The woman told the officers she did not recall details of the argument, or her injuries, the Paterson report said.
Marachilian and the woman allegedly told the Paterson patrol officer and a sergeant that they had “no dating relationship,” according to the police report, written on the day of the incident. Both Marichilian and the woman “refused further police help and medical attention,” the report said.
The report said Marachilian lived in Syosett on Long Island, and the woman’s residence was simply listed as the Bronx.
What else did the affidavit say?
Almost a year after the incident, the probable cause affidavit for the criminal charges filed against Marachilian gave a dramatically different description of what happened.
The recent prosecutor’s affidavit said Marachilian grabbed the woman’s hair and smashed her head into the dashboard of his vehicle. The assault took place for what the woman said “felt like hours,” according to the affidavit.
The prosecutor’s account said the woman tried to run away from Marachilian’s vehicle but he chased her down, “picked her up over his head and threw her to the ground.” Then he allegedly choked her, dragged her back to the vehicle and drove someplace else in Paterson, where he began punching her repeatedly in the face, the affidavit said.
Marachilian allegedly took the woman’s phone so she couldn’t call for help, and she begged a witness to contact police, the affidavit said. The woman had bruises and swelling on her face and cuts on her eyes, and was bleeding from her nose and face, the prosecutor’s account said.
Like the Paterson police report, the prosecutor’s affidavit did not mention that Marachilian and the woman were NYPD captains.
The affidavit said the woman told the Paterson police officers at the scene that she didn’t want any medical care and she called Marachilian “a friend.” The affidavit said Marachilian said during the encounter with Paterson police that he and the woman “wanted to go home to their significant others.”
But Marachilian allegedly also acknowledged that the two of them were having “an affair,” the affidavit said.
“Based on this admission and the visible injuries, swelling and blood” on the alleged victim, “this warrants a mandatory arrest,” said the prosecutor’s affidavit.
Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ: Conflicting accounts in NYPD captain's domestic violence case
