Girl was held upside down with head submerged in ocean as punishment, NC police say

A South Carolina man is facing child abuse accusations after beachgoers reported he was holding a 7-year-old girl upside down in the surf, with her head submerged, according to investigators in eastern North Carolina.

The incident happened around 6:30 p.m. Friday below the Sunset Beach Pier, and the act was done “as punishment and out of anger,” a court citation says.

“The charges stem from a 911 call reporting that a male was intentionally holding a child upside down by her legs, with her face submerged in the water against her will while she was screaming and crying,” Sunset Beach police said in an April 4 news release.

Court documents report the child was injured as the man “repeatedly” submerged her head in the surf. It went on for minutes, despite her screams for him to stop, police said.

Videos of the incident have circulated on social media, officials said.

An investigation identified 38-year-old Christopher Maurice Lee of Longs, South Carolina, as the man involved, police said. He was accompanied by Lesley Suzanne McClam, 26, of Calabash, who was identified as a parent of the child, police said.

Lee is dating the girl’s mother, and the child was under his supervision at the time of the incident, according to an arrest warrant.

The two adults have been charged with misdemeanor child abuse, “classified as a Class A1 misdemeanor, the most serious level of misdemeanor offenses,” police said.

“The North Carolina Department of Social Services has been notified and is conducting a joint investigation in coordination with the Sunset Beach Police Department,” police said.

Sunset Beach is about a 175-mile drive south from downtown Raleigh.

This story was originally published April 5, 2026 at 5:07 AM with the headline "Girl was held upside down with head submerged in ocean as punishment, NC police say."