Filing details Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr.’s alleged abuse of his daughter

Vivid details of Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr.’s alleged abuse of his teenage daughter emerged in an Atlantic County criminal filing Tuesday as the beleaguered politician continues to deny wrongdoing regarding the multiple charges filed against him and his wife this week.

Prosecutors on Monday accused Small and his wife, Atlantic City schools superintendent La’Quetta Small, of having physically assaulted their 16-year-old daughter in December and January, including an occurrence in which Marty Small is alleged to have beaten the teen unconscious with a broom, according to the filing.

An Atlantic County affidavit of probable cause viewed by The Inquirer Tuesday offers further detail, alleging that the couple’s ire stemmed from their disapproval of a relationship their daughter had with a young man.

During one January argument between Small and his daughter, according to the filing, the mayor can be heard on video saying “Nothing is going to happen to me!” as he pushes her.

“I’m gonna hurt you. OK,” Small said, according to the affidavit.

Small’s daughter then suggests she would be asked at school what happened.

“OK, tell them. I don’t care. What they gonna do to me? What they gonna do to me?” the mayor replies.

“Can you please move so I can go to school? Stop pushing me! You keep pushing me. Stop!” his daughter says.

Small has denied wrongdoing. The 50-year-old Democrat held a news conference in early April suggesting the allegations were politically motivated.

“These complaints focus exclusively on private family matters, basically attempting to second guess parental decisions of Mayor Small and his wife LaQuetta,” Small’s attorney Edwin Jacobs said in a statement Tuesday.

“These complaints were issues on summonses; that means no arrests were made and no bails were set. Mayor Marty Small remains the mayor of the city of Atlantic City and will continue to faithfully perform his duties as mayor.”

Allegations surrounding the Smalls arose shortly after Atlantic City High School principal Constance Day-Chapman’s arrest in late March on charges of failing to report an allegation of child abuse made by a student. Day-Chapman is a former campaign manager for Marty Small and the chair of the Atlantic City Democratic Committee.

According to the affidavit detailing the Smalls’ charges, the first report came when the mayor’s daughter circled a “neutral” smiley face during a school mental-health training session, writing “abuse” and “would like a counselor.”

The affidavit says the student told a therapist she was being physically and emotionally abused over a situation that “had happened December 7th and it was a minor situation, it got escalated to where they put hands on me,” including Marty Small punching her in the legs and La’Quetta Small putting her knee on her chest.

Later that month, La’Quetta Small allegedly “put all her weight” on her daughter and “smacked her multiple times in the face,” according to the filing.

Detectives allege an escalation of abuse in January, including an argument between Small and his daughter where the mayor “threw her into the shower, slammed her, and choked her.”

It was during that episode that, detectives say, Small struck his daughter with a broom. Small’s daughter would later tell a therapist that she didn’t feel safe around her parents, according to the filing.

La’Quetta Small told her daughter’s therapist the teenager was experiencing issues with “a young man they don’t approve of, and it had caused some tensions in the home,” the affidavit says.

Investigators interviewed Small’s daughter at school in January. The filing says that the student told law enforcement she made up the allegations because she was mad that her parents did not let her go to a restaurant with a friend several weeks beforehand, and that no physical contact had occurred between her and her parents.

However, investigators would find information that contradicted that statement after interviewing the teenager’s daughter’s boyfriend of nine months, who told them that Small’s daughter had detailed verbal, mental, and physical abuse on video chats between the couple — including her “clothing being ripped, and her body bruised after the abuse incidents.”

In one video chat, according to the filing, Small’s daughter showed her boyfriend the gray broom her father “used to beat her,” its handle bent.

Photos from the boyfriend’s phone viewed by police allegedly detailed her injuries, including swelling, scratches, bruising, and hair loss.

After extracting video from an iPad, police found footage from Jan. 3 recorded during an argument between Small and his daughter, according to the affidavit.

“She’s the problem!” the mayor allegedly yells.

“I’m scared,” his daughter whispers.

“Don’t make me hurt you,” Small says.

“Hurt me, that’s all you do!” his daughter replied.