THE CALIFORNIA DELUGE : Four-Wheeler Test Spin Ends in Tragedy : Flooding: An 11-year-old boy, along for the ride in muddy Trabuco Canyon, drowns when he breaks free from a tether while attempting to cross a swollen creek after becoming stranded.

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

But what began as a test spin on muddy roads turned into a nightmarish encounter with a raging, rain-swollen creek that claimed the life of an 11-year-old Mission Viejo boy who had come along for the ride.

Cary Dean Burlew, a fifth-grader at Fred Newhart Elementary School, fell into the churning current and drowned while 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.

Wilma Burlew, Cary’s mother, didn’t know her son had gone along for the Tuesday afternoon ride with Harris, Tim Brom--a friend of hers--and Brom’s 13-year-old son, Scott.

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

“This should never have happened,” Tim Brom said. “I would much rather have had it happen to me than him. Why didn’t they spare him instead of me?”

Harris, a 25-year-old stockbroker who bought a Ford Explorer two weeks ago, said the outing was to have taken only an hour or so. But on their return from an area frequented by off-roaders around 6 p.m., they found themselves stranded by high water with half a dozen other off-roaders.

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.

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 Brom decided to usher Cary 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 waded out into the chest-deep water.

“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.”

In the panic, others on both banks grabbed the rope and began to wade out into the creek to help the three, 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 until the force of the water and debris knocked him down, sending Cary down the creek.

Harris and Brom tumbled over a small spillway and made their way to safety, believing Cary was safe. But the boy had been carried away by the torrent.

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

“I don’t know why this happened,” 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 fractured 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.

Authorities said the incident could have been prevented and should serve as a warning to others about the dangers of floodwater conditions.

“There’s no reason to be out there. This is not a place to play,” Young said. “There’s no way to justify being in that creek.”