Creflo Dollar: "I should never have been arrested"

Monday, June 11, 2012Omoba

The Rev. Creflo Dollar Jr. took to the pulpit of his south Fulton County megachurch Sunday to proclaim his innocence of charges that he choked and beat his 15-year-old daughter. And those in the congregation say they believe him.

"He did not commit the crime," former World Changers Church International member Naomi Lyles told Channel 2 Action News. Thousands of congregants at World Changers Church International gave Dollar a standing ovation -- and remained standing as he talked for 10 minutes about his arrest and the events preceding it. Dollar had not spoken in public since his arrest early Friday.

"I want you to hear it personally from me: All is well in the Dollar household," he said. "A family conversation with our youngest daughter got emotional. Things escalated from there."

But he said: "She was not choked. She was not punched." What a police report described as scratches on her neck were remnants of a long-ago case of eczema, he said.