Tuesday 20 September 2022 05:05 AM Brooklyn's 'bling' pastor claims he was protecting his family trends now
Brooklyn's controversial bling pastor has doubled down on his claims that he did not throttle a female congregant at his service on Sunday, as he insists he was just trying to protect his family when he grabbed her.
Bishop Lamar Whitehead, 44, was caught on his church's livestream giving his sermon at the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in Canarsie when he apparently grabbed a woman who interrupted his service by the neck.
But the flashy pastor now insists the woman was heading directly for his wife and 10 month old daughter when he grabbed her by the shoulder, releasing surveillance footage that seems to prove his claims.
Whitehead said he was afraid she might have a weapon in her purse, after he was robbed of $40,000 worth of swag at gunpoint back in July.
He also asserted that the altercation came in retaliation to lawsuits he filed against two YouTubers who accused him of stealing from his congregation.
The woman, Tarsha Howard, was later arrested and was charged Monday with trespassing and disrupting a religious service.
She has since claimed that the pastor assaulted her as she was praying — and received a restraining order against the controversial pastor in court on Monday.
Surveillance footage from the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in Canarsie shows Tarsha Howard interrupting Bishop Lamar Whitehead's sermon before she approached the altar during Sunday's services
The pastor eventually grabbed her and ran Howard out of the Brooklyn church
Whitehead, 44, claims the woman was charging at his wife and 10 month old daughter, cursing at them before he intervened. He is pictured here with his family
In an interview with TMZ Live, Whitehead said that surveillance footage from the Canarsie church proved Howard was charging at his family before he grabbed her.
The footage — which he later posted to Facebook —shows Howard approaching the altar where he is standing.
She then starts gesturing at him and pointing at him as she speaks to the congregation.
Soon, Whitehead could be seen coming up to her as people in the congregation start to clap.
Howard appears to walk away, only to double back past the pastor to where his wife is holding his 10 month old baby.
At that point, the pastor lunges at her and grabs her, running her out of the church.
Though there is no sound with the video, Whitehead insists she was cursing out his family and calling them 'liars.'
'She just came on the side of me and started cursing me out, cursing me out,' he told TMZ Live. 'I said "OK no problem." And I told my church "Let's pray" and "Let's clap," then I told her "OK you gotta get out of here, you gotta go."'
That's when, he said, Howard started walking towards his family.
'I felt that she was going to hurt them,' he claimed. 'I grabbed her by the back of the shirt, and some of her hair was in my hand, and I had her shoulder — I never touched her neck.'
He also reiterated the claims in an Instagram video, wearing a Fendi sweater and a gold chain.
'I grabbed her by the back of her shirt, and I had some of her hair and I had the microphone in my left hand,' he said. 'How in the world did I choke her?'
Video posted to YouTube shows the moment Bishop Lamar Whitehead apparently shoved a woman after she interrupted his sermon Sunday
He also doubled down on his assertion that Howard had been sent by two podcasters he is suing for $40 million after they claimed he was stealing from his church.
In a Facebook Live video following the altercation, Whitehead said: 'We had some visitor in the church, and they were sent by two nobodies — two bloggers who are nobodies.
'And they were sent into my church to disrupt my church,' he alleged.
Whitehead then explained that he has 'lawsuits out, and when retaliation is retaliation, this is what it is.
'They came in videoing, and it was a whole set-up,' he alleged.
He then reiterated that claim in his interview with TMZ on Monday, saying: 'There was a plan and a scheme.
'I found out last night that these young ladies had plotted this whole rendition to disturb my church.'
Following the altercation, Whitehead claimed she was sent to the church by two YouTubers he is suing for $40 million as he insists he grabbed her by the shoulder
Following the altercation, both Howard and Whitehead were taken out of the church in handcuffs — but Whitehead was released two hours later without being charged.
He is now demanding an apology from the NYPD for arresting him in front of his family and his congregation, claiming he was only let free without charges after department 'higher ups' intervened.
'I'm a black man. That's the only reason why they did it,' he told the New York Daily News. 'I did nothing wrong.
'How do I call the police and the police that I call arrest me?'
Meanwhile, Howard told the Daily News that Whitehead is skewing the facts and that she is the real victim of the assault.
She posted a photo of a cut to her neck she claims she got in the scuffle.
Tarsha Howard claims she was praying when the pastor grabbed her on Sunday
She posted a photo of a cut to her neck she allegedly got in the altercation to social media
Howard said she decided to attend his service on Sunday because she was 'intrigued' by the flashy pastor after he was robbed back in July, and thought he would be a good case study for a book she is writing on religious leadership in the black community.
'His ushers invited me in,' she said. 'I went upstairs. They said, "Come on in." I went in. They did the [COVID] temperature thermometer and they ushered me to sit down.'
She also noted that after she apparently interrupted Whitehead's sermon, 'He actually invited me up to the front of the church. He said "Come up here." I went up there.'
Video from the incident shows Whitehead abruptly stopped his sermon to listen to someone in the crowd
'Let 'em record, let
