( CNN ) -- A Delaware doctor and his wife were arrested this week after their daughter told authorities that she was punished by `` waterboarding , '' police said . The 11-year-old girl said her father , pediatrician Melvin Morse , would hold her face under a running faucet causing the water to shoot up her nose , according to Delaware State Police . The punishments occurred four times between 2009 and 2011 . Pauline Morse , the girl 's mother , apparently witnessed the abuse and failed to stop it , police said . Attorneys for Pauline Morse could not be immediately reached for comment . But Melvin Morse 's attorney said he does n't believe the allegations , though has n't yet spoken to his client about them . `` The guy is a caring sensitive individual , '' said Joe Hurley , a Wilmington-based attorney . `` It 's unimaginable that he would expose his child to that kind of danger . He 's very interested in caring for people . It does n't equate that he would do that to his own child . '' Morse has written on near-death experiences among children , authoring a 1991 book called `` Closer to the Light . '' He was also interviewed by CNN 's Larry King about the subject , and runs a nonprofit called The Institute for the Scientific Study of Consciousness . Authorities were first alerted to allegations of abuse in July when they went to Morse 's Georgetown home . His daughter accused him of grabbing her by the ankle , dragging her across a gravel driveway and spanking her , police said . Morse was arrested four days later and posted bond . But his attorney offered a different account of what transpired that day . Hurley said the family returned from a trip when their daughter refused to get out of the car , sitting there for about four hours . Morse then picked her up and carried her out of the car a short distance to the house , his attorney said . `` There was no dragging involved , '' Hurley added . The following morning , he said , she visited a friend 's house and recounted the incident there . A phone call describing the alleged abuse was then apparently made to authorities , Hurley said . It 's not clear who made the call . But it was during a follow-up police interview with the child on Monday that she made the allegation that her father had `` waterboarded '' her as punishment , a term she said he used , according to police . Morse and his wife were arrested Tuesday . Both face charges of reckless endangerment , conspiracy and endangering the welfare of a child , police said . He is being held on $ 14,500 bail , while his wife was released after posting similar bail . Both were ordered to have no contact with their 11-year-old daughter or her 5-year-old sister , who are currently in protective custody . Do you own your child 's body ? The Delaware Department of Justice issued an emergency petition Wednesday to have Morse 's medical license suspended . The couple are expected to appear at a preliminary hearing in coming weeks . CNN 's Jack Maddox , Susan Candiotti and George Lerner contributed to this report .
The daughter claims her father held her face under the faucet . She says she was left with a swollen nose and mouth after he allegedly poured water over her.