COLLEGE PARK, Ga. (AP) — Megachurch pastor Creflo Dollar has taken to his pulpit to deny punching and choking his 15-year-old daughter, telling his congregation the allegations made in a police report are nothing but “exaggeration and sensationalism.”

“I will say this emphatically: I should have never been arrested,” Dollar said Sunday in his first public appearance two days after police charged him with misdemeanor counts of simple battery and cruelty to children.