A 34-year-old charged with child endangerment for reportedly making a 7-year-old steer a van while being towed has pleaded not guilty.

Tobius August Wilking of Austin pleaded not guilty Thursday in Mower County Court to gross misdemeanor child endangerment.

Officers went to 12th Avenue and Fourth Street Northwest on April 15 after a report of an accident. According to the court complaint, Wilking had his daughter steer a van while he towed it with a truck. However, the girl veered toward the curb and struck a tree. Witnesses say they saw the girl in the van, and added the truck backed up and tried to tow the van again, which struck the tree a second time.

Wilking has a pretrial Sept. 6.