Paterson Police union leaders, charged cops' lawyers take aim at Passaic County prosecutor

PATERSON — Police union leaders and defense lawyers condemned the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday for arresting three Paterson cops and charging them with misconduct in a domestic violence case involving two NYPD captains.

The alleged attacker, a male New York police captain, was allowed to drive away from the scene of the December 2022 incident in Paterson after the alleged victim, a female NYPD captain, who was bleeding from her face, declined medical attention and reportedly told the cops who responded to the scene she did not know how she was injured.

The prosecutor’s critics argued the actions of the accused officers should have been the subject of an Internal Affairs investigation for possible departmental discipline, such as retraining, and not the basis for criminal charges that could put the cops in prison for years.

Union leaders and lawyers said they think the prosecutors targeted the Paterson officers to deflect attention from their office’s own “scandals” and “failures,” including the recent acquittal of terminated city police officer Spencer Finch in an excessive force trial last December.

“This case is the most egregious example of prosecutorial overreach that I have ever seen,” said Valerie Palma, the lawyer representing police officer Juan Cruz. “I think the prosecutor’s office has its own agenda for pursuing this.”

PBA President Angel Jimenez said the officers who handled the domestic violence call had little choice but to release the male captain, Hariton Marachilian, based on the lack of cooperation from the female captain.

“I think this is a punitive action by the prosecutor’s office against the Paterson police department,” said Jimenez, adding that the county law enforcement agency looked bad when it did not pursue charges against Paterson’s infamous "robbery squad" of rogue cops more than five years ago.

“I think this is the prosecutor’s way of showing the attorney general that she is out to reform the police department,” Jimenez added, referring to Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes.

Valdes did not respond to an email seeking her response to the criticism from the police unions and the accused cops’ lawyers.

More from Paterson Press: These 3 Paterson cops were charged in a domestic violence case involving NYPD captains

When was Marachilian charged?

Marachilian was charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault and other crimes last November, almost a year after the incident. An inquiry by NYPD’s Internal Affairs triggered the Passaic prosecutor’s probe into Marachilian's actions. He has been held at the Bergen County Jail since he was arrested last fall.

In addition to Cruz, also arrested on Monday were Paterson Police officer Justin Schmid and Sgt. Giuseppe Ciarla on charges of official misconduct, conspiracy to commit official misconduct, and hindering apprehension of another. Cruz also was charged with filing a false police report.

The prosecutor’s announcement of those charges noted that Marachilian's alleged victim had visible injuries when the Paterson police responded to the scene after getting two 911 calls.

“In the ensuing interaction, the Paterson officers did not sufficiently investigate how the victim obtained her injuries and did not treat or obtain treatment for the victim’s injuries,” the prosecutor’s office said. “The Paterson officers did not search for or collect physical evidence. Marachilian was permitted to drive away from the scene by the officers and was not charged with any domestic violence offenses at the time.”

The affidavit of probable cause for the charges against the three cops cites as evidence the video recordings from the cops’ body camera. Paterson Press submitted a public records request for those videos almost four months ago. But officials have not yet released the recordings.

What does the affidavit of probable cause say?

The affidavit contained quotations from Marachilian and the Paterson cops from the body-camera footage.

Marachilian allegedly told the Paterson officers that he and the woman were both NYPD captains and the police intervention would “f--- up careers.”

Cruz then told the captain, “someone called it in my brother.”

Schmid allegedly told Marachilian, “I’m not f------ up nothing, my man. I told you to stay right there.”

Schmid then asked the captain if a bag on the ground outside the car was his, according to the affidavit.

“No, let it go bro,” Marachilian allegedly responded, “listen I’m not taking my hands out of my pockets for you, bro.”

The affidavit noted that none of the officers at the scene ever looked inside the bag. The complaint contains no further information about the bag.

The affidavit also quotes a series of Ciarla’s comments to the alleged victim, whom it says was “barely audible” in her responses.

“Somebody called the cops and said you guys were arguing,” Ciarla allegedly said.

“Did an altercation happen wherever you guys were at?” the sergeant allegedly asked.

“Not between you and him, maybe between you and someone else.”

“Did you fall, what happened to your face?”

“You don’t remember what happened — you sure about that?”

The affidavit said Marachilian said he and the female captain were having a dispute over a bar tab. The court document said Schmid told the captain he already talked about that and added, “...like I said less is more OK?”

Joel Miklacki, Ciarla’s lawyer, accused the prosecutor’s office of trying to make headlines by filing the charges against the three cops in what he called “a frivolous case.”

Miklacki said the alleged victim had denied there was an assault when questioned by the officers at the scene.

“They went with what they were told,” he said.

Charles J. Sciarra, Schmid’s attorney, said he has not yet watched the body camera videos.

“However, I find the nature and timing of the charges curious,” Sciarra said. “They indicted Finch for being too aggressive toward a domestic violence suspect and now are going after my client and his colleagues for not being aggressive enough. Which is it?”

Sciarra said that the woman in the incident was a captain in the world’s biggest police department does not “scream out ‘powerless victim.’”

“The allegation that my client and his supervisor would risk prison and conspire to help one NYPD captain at the expense of another NYPD captain that no one knew is a perplexing narrative,” Sciarra added.

Mason Maher, president of the Paterson Superior Officers Association police union, echoed the criticisms of Jimenez and the defense lawyers.

Maher said the prosecutor’s office originally directed the accused cops to give themselves up to authorities last Friday afternoon. Maher said that timing was designed by the prosecutors to keep the three officers jailed for the duration of the weekend.

Even on Monday, Maher said, the prosecutor’s office was slow to process the three accused cops, which he said was designed to keep them in custody as long as possible.

“It’s frustrating and it’s wrong,” the police union president asserted. “It didn’t have to be handled this way.”

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ: Lawyers for charged cops take aim at Passaic prosecutor