Surveillance video now filed as a court exhibit appears to show a female NYPD captain hauling off and striking a fellow captain inside an elevator at NYPD headquarters. The elevator dustup is tied to an alleged December 2022 attack in Paterson, N.J., and the footage only surfaced after a months-long legal fight over public access to evidence. The clip is once again putting a spotlight on how Paterson police and the NYPD handled explosive allegations between two high-ranking officers.
In a Feb. 2, 2026 opinion, New Jersey Courts ordered that the exhibits used at a Dec. 15, 2023 pretrial detention hearing be returned to the trial court and made available to the public. The appellate panel noted that the hearing had not been sealed and concluded the public has a right of access to those records, while still allowing for limited confidentiality in appropriate circumstances.
The Free Lance News obtained and published the surveillance footage, reporting that the camera caught the woman striking Capt. Hariton Marachilian inside an elevator just outside a cultural event at One Police Plaza on April 6, 2023. The outlet says it is withholding the captain's name at her lawyer's request.
Paterson attack and criminal charges
Prosecutors say the elevator encounter did not come out of nowhere. According to investigators, it followed a violent Dec. 10, 2022 episode in Paterson in which Marachilian allegedly kidnapped and severely beat a fellow NYPD captain. The Passaic County Prosecutor's Office announced his arrest in a Dec. 7, 2023 press release and detailed the charges, including first-degree kidnapping and multiple counts of aggravated assault. That release also steered questions about his employment status back to the NYPD.
Alleged cover-up by Paterson officers
Local reporting and prosecutors say three Paterson officers were later accused of mishandling the initial incident. They allegedly failed to properly investigate the night call and allowed Marachilian to leave the scene even though, according to authorities, the victim showed visible injuries. As reported by Paterson Times, the officers were charged with official misconduct, conspiracy to commit official misconduct and hindering apprehension.
Allegations of institutional protection
A federal civil complaint filed in the Southern District of New York uses the Paterson episode as one piece of a larger argument that the city has at times paid out settlements and promoted officers despite serious internal complaints. The filing points to an $800,000 settlement in a related harassment case and highlights promotions of senior officers as part of its claims. The federal complaint raises those allegations within broader litigation over NYPD practices.
“Victims are so desperate,” Dr. Chitra Raghavan, a forensic mental-health expert, told The Free Lance News. People who have been abused sometimes behave in ways that look “self-destructive or risky,” she added, a pattern experts say can muddle how incidents are reported, perceived and investigated.
What the court order means
The appellate remand requires the clerk and the prosecutor to make the detention-hearing exhibits available to the public, while giving the prosecutor a chance to seek narrow redactions to protect confidential victim information. New Jersey Courts stressed the public's right of access yet left room for limited privacy safeguards. Local reporting has also noted that the three Paterson officers are staring at second-degree counts that can bring significant prison time if they are convicted, as Patch reported.
Whether the newly public exhibits lead to more criminal charges or internal discipline is still an open question. What is clear is that the video, and the court battle that forced it into the light, have cranked up pressure for transparency on both the NYPD and New Jersey authorities. In its release, the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office directed employment questions to the NYPD and urged anyone with information to contact investigators. The office continues to handle the New Jersey criminal case.
