Faulk to jury - I never hit former girlfriend

ST. LOUIS -- Rams running back Marshall Faulk told a jury Friday he did not physically abuse former girlfriend Helen Dunne, contrary to the claims in her civil suit against him.

Faulk testified he asked Dunne to marry him in the fall of 2000, but called the engagement off when she stopped seeing a counselor, according to stltoday.com, the Web site of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

He said he had made the marriage conditional on their getting a psychologist's help to resolve their problems. "We argued about money. We told lies to each other. I felt we needed it," Faulk said in St. Louis County Circuit Court. "We had issues."

Dunne, who now lives inTexas, is seeking "substantial" monetary damages, alleging she was battered by Faulk on several occasions. He claims she is manipulating the court system to get money from him.

Neither Faulk nor Dunne would comment after court Friday. Testimony resumes Monday.