BELLEFONTE — A State College man is accused of child endangerment after police said his 8- year-old daughter was almost struck by a car on Easterly Parkway last weekend.

The charges against Philip Mellott, 24, were bound over for possible trial Wednesday during a preliminary hearing.

The girl ended up in the street after what police called a domestic dispute that started at the McDonald’s on South Atherton Street. Police said Mellott left the restaurant after an argument with Jacqulin Hodge, after which Hodge followed him in her car on South Atherton Street, asking him to get back in the car, where their children were.

Hodge testified during the hearing, saying she pulled over about a mile up the street, and her 8-year-old daughter got out of the car to try to talk to her father. She said her daughter was hanging on to her father, trying to talk to him.

In the charging documents police filed, police said Mellott shoved away from the girl in the middle of the intersection of Easterly Parkway and Old Boalsburg Road in State College and left her standing there.

Hodge testified her daughter was close — within “an inch” — to being hit by a car whose driver did not stop.

“She would be dead,” Hodge said. “The only thing she wants right now is for everything to be over.”

The girl did not testify. Defense attorney Patrick Klena asked the judge to dismiss the charges, arguing the mother endangered the girl by letting her get out of the car.

Assistant District Attorney Yvette Willson argued the charges should stand because of the danger Mellott caused his daughter.

Mike Dawson can be reached at 231-4616. Follow him on Twitter @MikeDawsonCDT