She has to look at everything that happened and decide if she scared, or hurt, the cat to the point that he felt he needed to fight back. I'd also suggest she have the cat examined by a vet to make sure he doesn't have any physical problems that are painful.
It's very possible that when your daughter 'flattened' him with her hand it's possible she injured him and he reacted to the situation.

I once had a young cat attack my hand when I reached down from the bed to pet him. It caught him off guard and he just went beserk. I ended up in ER with scratches and bites all over my hand. DH was ready to get rid of the cat but I told him he was not to do anything since I caused it.
Yes, my hand hurt like hell and I had to keep it bandaged for a few days....but I healed fine.

I call this cat the psycho cat because if he sees another cat outside he does transferred aggression on whoever is near by...people or their other cat. Most of the time , he's a sweetie. But when he escapes but never goes anywhere, he turns into a different animal. They love him and put up with it, but this is the first time he ever was this bad.

DH was bitten by one of our cats this fall& ended up in the hosp. for 3 nights. The cat was outside w/us & didn't want to come in, got cranky & bit him on the hand. It hit exactly on a big vein on the back of his hand. By the next day, hand was swollen. He went to the doctor & got some antibiotics. Next day, hand was swollen up huge, red & hot. Plus a nice scary red line from his hand all the way to his armpit. Off to the hospital we went.

We missed a Tigers playoff game (they won of course & he didn't get to go) & he's a huge fan, so I really felt for him. And he missed a couple days work to boot.

The thing to watch for is a red line coming from the wound, please go straight to dr/clinic/hosp. if she sees that! I hope she's feeling better now & is healing up.