An Oklahoma father beat up a youth minister who had been inappropriately touching his son at a bus stop -- and another church plans to hold a prayer vigil for him.
The 9-year-old boy told his father that Michael Coghill, a discipleship minister at Lakehoma Church of Christ, had touched him on the back Sept. 20, adding that he'd done something similar in the past while jogging past and made him uncomfortable, so the father waited in his car after dropping the boy off Thursday at the bus stop, reported KWTV-DT.
"While he was watching the school bus stop, our suspect ran by him, ran past the bus stop where the children were waiting, turned around, came back and stopped where he touched the child," said Sgt. Dillon Quirk, of the Oklahoma City police department.
The victim's father chased after Coghill, who witnesses said frequently jogged through the area, and physically attacked him, and his mugshot shows visible injuries to his face and head.
"He was in the cop car all bloody," said witness Lisa Ward.
The victim's father said he recorded video of Coghill placing his hand on the boy on the side and then moving his hand to the child's backside, and that's when he got out of the car to confront the pastor.
The physical attack fractured Coghill's skull and cracked the orbital socket on the left side of his face.
Coghill was charged with lewd/indecent acts to a child, and Lakehoma Church of Christ said he would be relieved of all duties and removed as a staff member.
"Our thoughts and prayers are also with the Coghill family," the church said in a statement. "We love them and desire to show Christ's love to them. [We] continue to be saddened and hurt by the events of the day."
Choctaw Church of Christ, the anti-LGBTQ ministry where Coghill previously worked, will hold a prayer vigil for the disgraced youth pastor.
