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Capt. Hariton Marachilian, a 45-year-old Long Island resident, remained held in the Bergen County Jail on Thursday, Dec. 7, following his arrest for the alleged Dec. 10, 2022 incident.
In what to some might resemble staged professional wrestling violence, a complaint filed by Paterson police says Marchilian viciously grabbed the victim by the hair and smashed her head into the dashboard of his car.
But that was only the beginning, it says.
Marchilian then chased the woman down after she ran, lifted her over his head and slammed her to the ground, according to the complaint filed in Superior Court in Paterson (continued below).
After dragging her back to the car, Marchilian drove off, then stopped and began assaulting her again, it says.
Machilian had seized her phone, the complaint says, but a Good Samaritan called police after she pleaded for help.
The woman reportedly suffered a number of injuries, including cuts, bruises and welts on her legs, feet, nose, eyes and face.
Marachilian, who lives in Syosset, apparently claimed that he’d been having an affair with the woman. She, in turn, told detectives they'd only been friends and that she was ending things between them when he savagely attacked her.
Marachilian had a history of “stalking, harassment or terroristic threats,” the Paterson police complaint alleges
Multiple media reports have cited at least two alleged instances of sexual harassment involving Marachilian, leading to his transfer to another precinct in one instance several months ago and an $800,000 settlement paid to another female officer in 2020.
Marachilian was suspended without pay by the NYPD on Nov. 30 before being arrested on Dec. 1. He was housed on Rikers Island, then booked into the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack on Dec. 6.
Marachilian is charged with five violent offenses in all.
The most serious are first-degree kidnapping and two second-degree counts of aggravated assault – one involving strangulation and the other "purposefully, knowingly or recklessly" causing serious bodily injury.
All of these come with mandatory prison time upon conviction.
Marachilian is also charged with a lesser count of criminal restraint causing severe bodily injury.
Finally, there's a charge of criminal coercion via a threat that appears aimed at getting the woman to drop a restraining order against him based on the specific state statute cited. This apparently qualifies as a domestic violence offense.
Marachilian reportedly had been removed as commander of the NYPD’s 90th Precinct in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, this past July after a woman in New Jersey obtained an order of protection against him. He was forced to surrender his gun and given a desk job, according to multiple reports.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether that woman and the alleged victim are one and the same person.
A U.S. Marine Corp veteran, "Harry" Marachilian served in Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq. He’s president of a fraternal police organization called the Middle Eastern & Turkic Society (MTS).
Marachilian joined the NYPD in 2004.
According to 50-a.org, a website that records instances of NYPD misconduct, his superiors substantiated a citizen's complaint in May 2022 alleging an abuse of authority through an improper search.
In six other investigations of civilian complaints between August 2007 and June 2018, it says, Marachilian was exonerated or alleged victims didn't cooperate.
Marachilian's record, according to 50-a.org, also includes minor complaints that led to his admissions of:
using a department vehicle and MetroCard without authorization;
going absent without explanation for several hours;
not properly recording his whereabouts in his activity log,
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