Drowned Boy Was Guest on Off-Road Trip

The driving conditions were horrid--perfect for trying out William Harris’ new four-wheel-drive truck.

But what began as a test spin on the muddy roads of Trabuco Canyon turned into a nightmarish encounter with a raging, rain-swollen creek that claimed the life of an 11-year-old Mission Viejo boy who went along for the ride Tuesday evening. Cary Dean Burlew, a fifth-grader at Fred Newhart School, fell into the churning current and drowned trying to cross Trabuco Creek tethered to a rope.

Firefighters and swift-water rescue teams found the boy’s body a mile downstream at the northern edge of O’Neill Regional Park, just east of Mission Viejo.

The child’s mother, Wilma Burlew, didn’t know he had taken off with Harris, Timothy Vincent Brom--a friend of hers--and Brom’s 13-year old son, Scott, after school Tuesday.

“Everyone is taking it pretty hard. He didn’t leave me a note that day, but I thought he was OK,” said Wilma Burlew, a mother of nine and a clerk at an electronics store in Laguna Hills. “I guess accidents just happen.”

She said the last thing she told her son was, “I love you, Cary.”

“He said, ‘I love you more, mom,’ ” Wilma Burlew said.

Tim Brom said the incident “should never have happened.”

“I would much rather have it happen to me than him,” he said. “Why didn’t they spare him instead of me?”

Harris, a 25-year-old stockbroker who bought the Ford Explorer two weeks ago, said the outing was to have taken only an hour or so. Tim and Scott Brom, neighbors who often accompanied Harris on off-road excursions, came along, as usual. And they brought Cary Burlew, a budding outdoorsman who lived next door to Harris and had joined him fishing for crawdads, on what was the boy’s first four-wheeling trip.

Harris said the ride up Holy Jim Canyon--an area frequented by off-roaders--was easy. The rain was gentle and the creek was just a foot deep--barely higher than its dry-weather level, he said.

But by the time the group made its way back down to the creek about 6 p.m., they found themselves stranded with other off-roaders by the high water.

Tim Brom and Harris said bystanders on the other side of the creek called 911 to report the stranded motorists but were told firefighters could not respond immediately because life-threatening emergencies were more pressing during Tuesday’s storm.

“That’s crazy,” Brom said. “I don’t understand why they couldn’t have come out earlier.”

Fire officials said Wednesday they were not aware of the call for help but agreed that a dispatcher would have told the caller to wait unless a life was in danger.

“We don’t leave anyone or anything unattended,” said Capt. Dan Young of the Orange County Fire Department. “They’re not going to spend the night on the creek bed.”

After waiting more than an hour, Harris and Tim Brom decided to usher Cary Burlew to the other side of the creek because the child’s mother didn’t know where he was and the boy wanted to go home, they said.

Harris, a former Marine who said he had made many river crossings, was worried the youngster would try to make it across alone. “All I thought about was (that) he was going anyway and I didn’t want him going by himself,” Harris said.

Using a rope that had been thrown across by bystanders on the other side, they waded into the chest-deep water even though witnesses said they yelled warnings not to risk taking the boy.

“We tied a rope to a 4-by-4 (truck) on each end and we tied a safety rope around Cary’s waist,” Tim Brom said. “William (Harris) was in front of him and I was in back of him. But when we started to cross, Cary panicked and we knew it would be too hard, so we tried to come back.”

Said Harris: “He started panicking because the water was rushing in his face. . . . He started screaming and reached up and grabbed me.”

As the two men struggled to hold onto the boy in the darkness, others on both banks grabbed the rope and began to wade out into the creek to help the trio, who were in the middle. The added weight caused the rope to snap, Harris believes.

Harris said he held onto the boy and the severed rope and struggled against the force of the water, which was so powerful that it peeled off his boots. The current and rocks in the water finally knocked Harris over, sending the youngster down the creek.

“I was willing to give up my life for his,” said Harris. “I did everything I could do.”

As a bystander tried to keep a spotlight on the boy, the youngster was swept around a bend and disappeared from sight, authorities said. Witnesses raced downstream in their vehicles but couldn’t find him.

“They kept (saying) ‘We can’t find him. We can’t find him,’ ” said Chris Moore, a 23-year-old off-roader who fell into the creek trying to grab Cary Burlew.

In the meantime, Harris and Tim Brom tumbled over a small spillway and made their way to safety, not knowing the youngster had been swept away.

“I don’t know why this happened,” Tim Brom added. “We take life for granted. You’re here one minute and gone the next. You get so preoccupied with working and paying the bills that you don’t have time to appreciate what you’ve got.”

Harris broke his left leg during the incident and was in good condition Wednesday afternoon at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo. Tim Brom went home with bruises and other minor injuries. Scott Brom never entered the water.

Would-be rescuers who had waded in from both sides of the creek were unhurt.

Wilma Burlew has set up a fund to help pay the cost of her son’s funeral. Contributions can be sent to the Cary Burlew Trust Fund 23010 Lake Forest Drive, P.O. Box 226, Laguna Hills, CA 92653.

* NO DAY AT THE BEACH: Laguna residents are reeling from their latest disaster. A19

* MORE PHOTOS, STORIES: A19-22, B1