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Police say they are considering taking legal action after footage of a Georgia man kneeling on his teenage daughter's chest and hitting her went viral.
In video clips, the 14-year-old girl can be heard screaming as she is slapped while another clip shows her writhing on the floor while the father straddles her neck.
During the clips, posted on social media, the father can be heard explaining that he is punishing his daughter for allegedly lying, stealing and repeatedly running away.
The incident is believed to have taken place in Gwinnett County.
The footage appears to have been taken in the family's garage with roller shutters.
The girl, who can be clearly seen, is forced to sit on a single wooden chair with the man and his wife—believed to be the girl's step-mother—hovering over her as they record the footage on a phone.
The father says: "I've got you live on my iPhone."
His wife can be heard saying: "Take your hands away from your face." The father then hits his daughter's hands away from her face and the girl can be heard crying out.
At one point the teenager runs away but is pulled back into the garage by her father who then pins her to the floor straddling her neck, prompting her to beg him to get off her.
Instead of releasing her, he repeatedly says: "It's cool to run away?"
In a later video, the father records himself talking to the camera and says by sitting on his daughter, he was just trying to teach her a lesson about personal safety.
He says: "What I was doing by sitting on my daughter's chest was to show her how extremely easy it is for someone else to get control of her."
However, police have received a flood of complaints from people who have seen the video and been concerned for the child's welfare.
Police say they are considering taking legal action but need to speak to the couple first.
Sgt Jennifer Richter, of Gwinnett County Police, appealed to the man and his wife to come forwards, saying officers haven't been able to contact them yet.
She said: "At this point we haven't had any luck with doing that.
"We would like to please ask them to reach out to us."
Police say they have spoken to the girl, who is now staying with a guardian, and she is safe and well.
