Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. and his wife were allegedly filmed beating up their teenage daughter by her boyfriend — who the parents had “disapproved of,” it was revealed Wednesday.
Small, 50, and his 47-year-old wife La’Quetta, the head of Atlantic City schools, were filmed over a video chat while allegedly berating and “chocking” their child, according to charging documents obtained by The Post.
The mother and father were charged Monday with endangering the welfare of a child.
The pair have been accused of verbal and physical abuse beginning in Dec. 2023, including allegations they allegedly beat the 16-year-old unconscious with a broom, hit her with a belt and punched her in the mouth, according to an affidavit.
Much of the physical and verbal abuse was secretly caught on camera by the girl’s boyfriend — whom her parents “disapproved of” and demanded she stop seeing. The boyfriend also provided a cache of photos she had sent him showing her injuries, the docs said.
The unnamed boyfriend told investigators he witnessed over video chat in Dec. 2023 how Marty Small “screamed at her and was physically abusive specifically by choking her.”
One video clip, which appeared to be a screen recording, captured an incident around Jan. 3 that showed Small berating his daughter as she whispered to her boyfriend on a video chat that she was scared.
“Don’t make me hurt you,” the father threatens in the video.
“That’s all you do. That’s all you do anyway,” his daughter responded.
The argument continued moments later with the daughter saying “Stop pushing me.”
“I’m telling you, you’re going to do harm to yourself if you get in my space again,” Small says back.
“Sit down. I’ll smack that weave out ya head,” he says moments later.
“I don’t care where I push you at … I’m going to earth slam her down the steps,” the mayor yelled. “Come past this me [sic] and I’m gonna grab you by the head and throw you on the ground. Nothing is gonna happen to me!”
In another recorded incident on Jan 7, the girl was filmed asking her mother to get off her neck and said she had punched her in the mouth, according to the affidavit.
“Who you telling to get off of you girl! You don’t run me. You don’t run me. And I’m gonna touch you whenever I wanna touch you,” La’Quetta Small said.
La’Quetta Small was also accused of dragging the teen by the hair and beating her with a belt on her shoulders after her boyfriend dropped food off at their house, according to the affidavit.
The mayor’s daughter told investigators that on Jan. 13, her father threw her in a shower, slammed her and choked her. He then hit her in the head with a broom, knocking her out, she said.
The girl’s boyfriend said she later showed him on video chat the bent broom handle he had allegedly used to beat her. He provided several images of the girl’s injuries all over her body including “swelling, scratches, bruising and hair loss.”
The charges came to light during a mental health training day at Atlantic City High School when the teenager discreetly told staff that she was suffering from abuse and wished to see a counselor.
A school employee pulled her out of class later the same day and they spoke in the hallway for over two hours where she described the incident with the broom.
The teen added that she had previously told ACHS Principal Days-Chapman, who said she would report the alleged abuse to the Department of Child Protection & Permanency [DCP&P].
When a therapist contacted La’Quetta Smalls, she said that her daughter had been sneaking around with a boyfriend they didn’t like after they told her to stop seeing him, causing tension in the house.
Small and his wife denied the allegations in an interview with [DCP&P] officials and said their daughter had made it up because she was mad at them for taking her phone away.
The mayor’s home was searched on March 28 and on April 1 his wife and their daughter attended an Atlantic City news conference in which the mayor said he has “nothing to hide.”
During the search, detectives found a handwritten letter dated Dec. 21, 2023 in the daughter’s closet in which the girl threatened to run away from home.
“Honestly, I’m going for peace, I keep disappointing you all, I’m just going to go. Must hate me for not being perfect,” she wrote. “Getting called dumb, crazy, mental and sick hurts but that’s okay, I guess I’m the biggest disappointment for defending myself.”
In addition to the child endangerment charges, Marty Small is also charged with third-degree terrorist threats and third-degree aggravated assault. He and his wife have also been slapped with a disorderly persons’ simple assault charge.
