'FELT LIKE HOURS': WOMAN DETAILS NYPD CAPTAIN'S ATTACK
VICTIM REPORTED ATTACK TO NYPD, BUT NYPD DIDN'T SUSPEND HIM FOR A YEAR
THE FREE LANCE NEEDS YOUR DONATIONS TO SURVIVE. DONATE HERE.
The woman attacked by an NYPD captain last December "begged a witness to call police" but, when police arrived, they didn't arrest the off-duty officer. They let him go.
That's according to the arrest warrant finally filed in the case almost a year later.
Hariton Marachilian allegedly choked, repeatedly punched and restrained, The Free Lance reported Thursday.
The night, now almost a year ago, began with the NYPD captain and the woman out with friends at a Patterson, New Jersey restaurant, the affidavit reveals. When they left the restaurant for the evening, the two got into a "verbal dispute."
The verbal dispute "led" to the former Marine grabbing the victim by her hair "and 'smashing her head' into the dashboard of his vehicle," the arrest warrant says.
Marachilian then drove "to multiple locations in Patterson" with the women in his car. She escaped at one point.
"While being assaulted in the vehicle, she was able to flee the vehicle," the warrant alleges. Marachillian "chased her."
The former Marine caught her, "picked her up over his head and threw her to the ground. He then began 'choking' her." Then he "dragged her back to his vehicle." He drove her to another location "and began punching her repeatedly."
The woman pleaded with a bystander to telephone police because Marachilian "took her phone so she could not call for help."
When Patterson police arrived, they saw her face was bruised and bloody. But she called Marachilian a "friend" and said she didn't want medical aid. Marachilian admitted he was having an "affair" with the woman and got into a "verbal dispute" with her.
According to the police report, Patterson police officers saw her injuries, "swelling and blood," but didn't arrest Marachilian even though New Jersey law mandated his arrest, "this warrants a mandatory arrest."
After letting Marachilian go, Patterson police took no action, until November 30, according to the arrest warrant.
The warrant also confirms the victim later reported Marachilian's attack to his employer, the NYPD.
Finally, almost a year later, the Public Integrity Unit of the Passaic County prosecutor's office referred the case to the Patterson Police Department's domestic violence unit.
The NYPD suspended Marachilian without pay later that day.
Marchilian was arrested December 1. He remains jailed pending a bail hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
William J. Quirk, his criminal lawyer, declined a request for comment.
NOTE: This story originally identified the victim as a “bellydancer.” Subsequently, additional reporting revealed she was not a professional bellydancer but an NYPD captain.
THE FREE LANCE NEEDS YOUR DONATIONS TO SURVIVE. DONATE HERE.