Atlantic City mayor Marty Small who ‘knocked daughter out with broom’ & warned he’d ‘smack weave out her head’ charged

A CITY mayor and his superintendent wife are facing charges over disturbing allegations of physical and emotional abuse against a child.

Marty Small Sr. and his wife, La'Quetta, each face a charge of endangering the welfare of a child in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where they both hold high-ranking positions.

Marty Small, 50, is the mayor of Atlantic City while La'Quetta, 47, serves as the superintendent of Atlantic City Public Schools.

Charges against them were announced on Monday but the allegations stem from incidents that happened between December 2023 and January 2024, prosecutors say.

In a page-long news release, the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office alleged that the couple physically and emotionally abused their teen daughter on multiple occasions.

In one incident, Mayor Small allegedly hit his teen daughter in the head with a broom several times, causing her to lose consciousness.

Mayor Small is also accused of hurling threats at his daughter during a separate argument.

He allegedly told her he'd hurt her by "earth slamming" the teen down the stairs, grabbing her head, throwing her to the ground, and "smacking the weave out of her head."

In a third incident, Mayor Small allegedly punched his daughter repeatedly to the point that her legs were bruised.

La'Quetta Small is also accused of punching her daughter in the chest and mouth in two other alleged incidents of abuse.

She dragged her daughter by the hair and hit her with a belt, leaving marks on her shoulders, the prosecutor's office alleged.

The victim was 15 or 16 years old.

In addition to second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, Mayor Small has also been charged with third-degree terroristic threats, third-degree aggravated assault, and disorderly persons simple assault, according to prosecutors.

His wife, Superintendent Small, also faces three counts of disorderly persons simple assault.

The husband and wife were given summonses with the charges against them.

FAMILY NEWS CONFERENCE

The charges were made public two weeks after Mayor Small and his family held a news conference about a search warrant that was served at their home.

Small insisted at the April 1 press conference that a search of his home in late March was due to a "private family issue," not a crime, local ABC affiliate WPVI reported.

The mayor said he and his wife had been working with state child welfare authorities and had nothing to hide.

"We're going through family therapy, and that's what this should be - a family matter," he said.

Superintendent Small was present but didn't speak at the press conference and left before it finished.

The search warrant was carried out at the Smalls' home on the same day Constance Days-Chapman, the principal of Atlantic City High School, was arrested.

Days-Chapman is accused of failing to report allegations of child abuse to the authorities after a child came forward.

During the press conference, Mayor Small referred to Days-Chapman, whom the family calls "Mandy," a dear friend of his.

"We support you, Mandy. You did absolutely nothing wrong," he said.

LAWYER STATEMENT

Mayor Small declined to comment on Monday when approached by the Associated Press and referred questions to his lawyer, Ed Jacobs.

Jacobs said the charges against his client don't involve any public corruption or impropriety in the mayor's conduct of his official duties.

The charges have to do with "a private family matter, including the challenges that Mayor Small and his wife have dealt with raising a teenage daughter," said Jacobs.

He added that the couple's daughter hasn't been removed from the family home.

"This is an intact family," said Jacobs. "She's right where she belongs."

The U.S. Sun has reached out to the Small family for comment.