Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small has been accused of beating his teen daughter.
Local authorities announced the charges Monday against Small and his wife, Atlantic City Public Schools Superintendent La’Quetta Small.
The Small family home was raided by cops March 28, and Mayor Small held a press conference April 1 in which he claimed it was not a corruption raid and instead connected to a “private family matter” and an allegation that “confirms I’m human.”
The Smalls stand accused of physically and emotionally abusing their daughter several times between December 2023 and January of this year, when she was 15 and 16 years old.
In one incident, Marty Small, 50, beat his daughter with a broom, wailing on her head until she lost consciousness, prosecutors said. In another attack, Small punched his daughter numerous times in the legs, causing bruises, according to investigators.
Additionally, Small threatened to throw his daughter down a staircase, grab her head and smack the weave out of her head, authorities said.
La’Quetta Small, 47, is also accused of attacking her daughter three times. Once, she punched her in the chest several times and left bruises, according to police. Another time, she dragged her daughter by the hair and struck her with a belt on the shoulders, cops said.
In the third incident, she allegedly punched her daughter in the mouth during an argument.
Both Smalls were charged with second-degree child endangerment. Marty Small was also charged with third-degree terroristic threats, third-degree aggravated assault and simple assault. La’Quetta Small was charged with three counts of simple assault.
At his press conference earlier this month, Mayor Small said he was aware of the investigation and that it had lasted for several months. He also slammed rumors that he had physically assaulted his daughter while she was pregnant with twins.
“The most egregious rumor today is that my daughter was pregnant with twins. And I beat the s–t out of her so bad that I killed the babies,” he said.
Atlantic City High School Principal Constance Days-Chapman is also charged in the investigation. The Smalls’ daughter allegedly reported the abuse to Days-Chapman, but she did not alert authorities. The principal was arrested March 28, the same day as the raid on the Smalls’ home.
Marty Small has been Mayor of Atlantic City since 2019.
