The mayor of Atlantic City, N.J., Marty Small Sr., and his wife, La’Quetta Small, the superintendent of Atlantic City’s public schools, have been accused of physically and emotionally abusing their teenage daughter, officials announced on Monday.
Mr. Small, 50, and Ms. Small, 47, were charged with a second-degree count of endangering the welfare of a child, the Atlantic County prosecutor’s office said in a news release. Prosecutors said that the couple abused their daughter “on multiple occasions” between December and January, when she was 15 and 16.
On one occasion, prosecutors said, Mr. Small hit his daughter in the head with a broom several times, causing her to lose consciousness. The abuse also included punching and threats, according to the prosecutor’s office.
A spokesman for the mayor’s office directed all inquiries about the charges to Mr. Small’s lawyer, Edwin Jacobs. Mr. Jacobs said the matter “has absolutely nothing to do with any improprieties in the mayor’s office.”
Mr. Jacobs added that the prosecutor’s office’s investigation “focuses on private personal matters, including challenges that Mayor Small as a dad and his wife, La’Quetta, as a mom have been facing raising a teenage child.”
Mr. Jacobs said he was representing only the mayor; it was not immediately clear who was representing Ms. Small. The schools superintendent’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
