Dollar took to the pulpit on Sunday, following his arrest two days prior, to publicly deny the damaging claims.
"I will say this emphatically: I should have never been arrested," Dollar said.
It was the Alanta leader's first appearance since police charged him with misdemeanor counts of simple battery and cruelty to children.
The pastor got an enthusiastic ovation from the packed church as he took the pulpit at the World Changers Church International in the Atlanta suburb of College Park. He addressed the criminal charges head-on for several minutes before moving on to his sermon.
"I want you all to hear personally from me that all is well in the Dollar household," Dollar said.
The 50-year-old Dollar is one of the most prominent African-American preachers based around Atlanta, with 30,000 members in the Atlanta area and a ministry of satellite churches across the U.S.
He was arrested after his 15-year-old daughter called 911 at about 1 a.m. Friday and told a Fayette County sheriff's deputy that she and her father argued when he said she couldn't go to a party. A police report says the girl told a deputy her father charged at her, put his hands around her throat, began to punch her and started hitting her with his shoe. The deputy noted a scratch on her neck.
He said the mark on his daughter's neck had been there for about 10 years and was caused by a skin condition, eczema.
"The truth is she was not choked, she was not punched. There were not any scratches on her neck," Dollar said. "But the only thing on her neck was a prior skin abrasion from eczema. Anything else is exaggeration and sensationalism."
@TT_SOURCE
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