A 3-year-old boy tried to stop his mother’s drunken boyfriend from strangling her during an alleged assault at an Oak Harbor home, according to a police report on the March 10 incident.

Prosecutor charged the man, 27-year-old John Strobel Owen, in Island County Superior Court March 13 with assault in the second degree with aggravating circumstances and fourth degree assault. Both counts were charged as domestic-violence related. The alleged aggravating circumstance is that the assault occurred within sight and sound of the victim’s minor child.

Owen pleaded not guilty March 26.

The alleged victim reported that she and her two children were watching a movie with Owen at her apartment on North Oak Harbor Street. She said Owen drank a box of wine, started calling her names and then attacked her after she accidentally hit his cell phone, according to a report by Officer Steve Nordstrand with the Oak Harbor Police Department.

Owen allegedly sat on top of her stomach and choked her with both of his hands. He threatened to choke her to death if she didn’t stop screaming, the report states.

The woman said her 3-year-old son tried to help her by getting in between herself and Owen. She was able to kick Owen off of her and ran to a neighbor’s apartment with her two children, the officer wrote.

Nordstrand noted that Owen smelled of “intoxicants” and slurred his words. After he was arrested, Owen allegedly threatened to harm the woman, the report states.

Owen is being held in jail on $35,000 bail. If convicted of the charges, he would face from six months to a year in jail under the standard sentencing range.