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Heather Johnson talks with her defense attorney, Tom Hanrahan, before being sentenced to probation this week.

(Aimee Green/The Oregonian)

The 9-year-old boy told the 911 dispatcher that he had farted at the table, and that’s when his mother unleashed on him -- shoving him face-down to the ground, biting him on the arm and choking him to the point he wondered if he might die.

The boy said he called 911 because he had had enough and “couldn’t go on like this.” Within days, that May 26 emergency call led to his mother’s arrest.

And this week, 36-year-old Heather Rose Johnson pleaded guilty to fourth-degree assault and was sentenced to three years of probation -- and the threat of at least 10 more days in jail if she was caught physically disciplining the boy again.

Heather Rose Johnson

Johnson had no previous criminal history. Appearing upbeat as she sat next to her defense attorney during her Multnomah County Circuit Court hearing, she said Oregon Department of Human Services workers were waiting for her criminal case to be resolved so they could return her children -- the boy and his brother, who is a year older -- to her custody.

Johnson is divorced, and its unclear what role the children’s father plays in their lives. A DHS spokesman said privacy laws prevent him from sharing information about the case. The boy has a different last name from Johnson, and The Oregonian is not printing his name because he’s a victim of child abuse.

In addition to probation, Johnson must attend parenting classes, anger-management classes and drug-and-alcohol counseling.

The older brother, who was 10 at the time, witnessed the attack. He told police his mother had six beers that night, but that she was likely only buzzed, not drunk, because she has a “high tolerance” for alcohol, according to a probable-cause affidavit.

The affidavit lays out the boy’s report in detail: Upon arriving at the Northeast home, police discovered Johnson drinking in the carport. She used expletives to describe the boy, and said she had to physically force him into a timeout, according to the affidavit.

The boy told police after he has passed gas, his mom shoved him face-down to the ground and slapping him on the face and hand. He said he tried to bite his mom, but couldn’t. Instead, she bit him.

The boy later told child-abuse investigators that his mom scratched the back of his neck with her fingernails, and police saw long red scratches there -- as well as a bite wound on his arm.

The boy told investigators that at one point, as she choked him, he couldn’t breathe for five seconds and thought he could die.

Johnson was arrested but soon released in early June, and ordered to report regularly to a pretrial supervision deputy. Last week, she was brought back to jail because she’d missed 16 required phone check-ins with the deputy and six required weekly office visits.

Johnson told Judge Christopher Marshall this week that she was juggling work at a construction company and a packed schedule, and she made the mistake of skipping check-ins with the deputy.

“I’ve learned my lesson,” Johnson said of not reporting in as required.

The judge warned her of the importance of checking in with her probation officer now that she has been sentenced.

-- Aimee Green