E-Paper
Atlantic City mayor, wife charged after beating daughter unconscious with broom, teen's boyfriend filmed video
Mayor Marty Small Sr., 50, and his wife La’Quetta Small, 47, have been charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child
The Atlantic City mayor and his wife have been accused of beating their teen daughter unconscious with a broom. The Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that Mayor Marty Small Sr., 50, and his wife La’Quetta Small, 47, have been charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.
Marty was also charged with third-degree terrorist threats and third-degree aggravated assault. Both of them have also been slapped with a disorderly persons’ simple assault charge.
La’Quetta is reportedly the superintendent of the Atlantic City Public Schools. It has been reported that their daughter had been abused on multiple occasions previously. She was abused when she was 15 and 16, between December 2023 and January 2024.
Investigators told NBC News that Marty grabbed a broom and hit his daughter in the head several times. She subsequently lost consciousness.
The attack was filmed, reportedly by the teenage girl’s boyfriend who her parents “disapproved of,” New York Post reported. The unnamed boyfriend told investigators that in December 2023, he saw over video chat how Marty “screamed at her and was physically abusive specifically by choking her.”
Previous instances of abuse
In another instance, Marty during an argument with his daughter threatened to hurt her by “earth slamming” her down the stairs. He has also repeatedly punched his daughter in the legs, wounding her. Even La’Quetta allegedly punched the girl several times in the chest.
In another incident, La’Quetta dragged her daughter by the hair and hit her with a belt. During another argument, she punched her daughter in the mouth.
The girl told staff at Atlantic City High School during a mental health training that she was being abused. She expressed her wish to see a counsellor. In an interview with [DCP&P] officials, Mary and his wife maintained they were innocent. They said their daughter made up the story because she was angry her phone had been taken away.
On March 28, the mayor’s home was searched. Detectives found a handwritten letter dated December 2023, in which the girl threatened to run away from home. The note was found in her closet.
“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.”
