Democrat mayor and his "Superintendent of Schools" wife arrested for physically abusing their daughter

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ- The Democrat mayor of Atlantic City is digging in his heels and refusing to resign after his recent arrest for abusing his teenage daughter, according to The Press of Atlantic City. Mayor Marty Small Sr., along with his wife La’Quetta, the Atlantic City Superintendent of Schools, were arrested earlier this week related to the incident involving their daughter. 

Marty Small Sr., 50, was charged with terroristic threats, aggravated assault, and disorderly persons simple assault. La’Quetta Small, 47, was charged with three counts of disorderly persons simple assault, according to prosecutors. Neither, however, is planning to resign their post. 

“Mayor Small and Superintendent La’Quetta Small are completely innocent of any wrongdoing and will ultimately be vindicated,” the Smalls' attorney, Ed Jacobs, said earlier this week. “These complaints were issued on summonses; that means no arrests were made, and no bails were set. Mayor Marty Small remains the mayor in the City of Atlantic City and will continue to faithfully perform all his duties as mayor.” 

Meanwhile, the city’s Board of Education President Shay Steele refused to comment on La’Quetta Small’s employment status, however, said the board will discuss the matter at its April 23 meeting. 

Mayor Small, who attended the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority’s meeting on Tuesday, declined to comment on the charges. 

Jacobs claimed that since the charges contained no allegations of public corruption or misconduct in office, any demand for the mayor to resign was premature. He downplayed the charges, claiming they are “a misguided attempt to micromanage very private and personal family matters, including challenges facing parents to properly raise a teenage child.” 

She claims her parents physically and emotionally abused her during the months of December and January. 

In one incident, the mayor allegedly hit his daughter multiple times in the head with a broom, leaving her unconscious. In another incident, he said he was going to hurt her by “earth-slamming” her down the stairs, then grabbing her by the head and throwing her to the ground.

The teen said her father smacked “the weave out of [her] head,” the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office said in a press release. In another incident, the mayor was alleged to have repeatedly punched his daughter in the legs, causing bruises. 

Court documents showed that the teen went to the hospital three days after the broom incident for treatment of a head injury. At that time, she claimed she hit her head on a window, which caused her to lose consciousness. Mayor Small, who accompanied her to the hospital, agreed with her story. 

In another incident, La’Quetta Small was accused of punching her daughter multiple times on her chest, causing bruising; she also dragged the teen by her hair and struck her with a belt on her shoulders, leaving marks, and also punched her daughter in the mouth during an argument. 

Several recordings also involved a January 3, 2024, incident between the mayor and his daughter while she was speaking to her boyfriend on a video chat. 

The girl told her boyfriend in a whisper that she was “scared,” whereupon Marty Small tells her, “Don’t make me hurt you.” 

“Hurt me, that’s all you do!” the daughter replied to her father, at which point she told her to sit down while she told him to stop pushing her. 

‘I'm gonna hurt you,” Small told his daughter while threatening to throw her down the stairs. “Tell them. I don’t care. What they gonna do to me? I’ll smack that weave out ya head. Nothing is gonna happen to me!” he said.

On January 7, 2024, there was another incident between the teen and her mother that was witnessed by her grandmother, during which she told her mother to get off her and stop hitting her. 

“A little punch in the eye ain’t gonna stop her,” the grandmother interjected. 

The arrest affidavit also had messages from the teen to her friends asking if she could stay with them while saying she didn’t feel safe at home. 

“I’ve been mentally, emotionally, verbally, and physically abused, and it’s a lot,” the teen wrote. “I’m overwhelmed, and I keep crying every night.” 

The investigation into the couple began in January after their daughter, who was not identified by name, told school officials during a mental health exercise that she was subject to physical and emotional abuse at home, whereupon she was referred to a counselor. 

The counselor then contacted La’Quetta Small, who claimed she and her husband were dealing with issues involving their daughter after she started dating someone they didn’t approve of. 

The arrest affidavit said most of the incidents were recorded either on a cellphone or an iPad, and the teen sent photos of her injuries to her boyfriend, who showed the images to investigators during the police investigation. 

The Smalls are due in court on May 15.