Arroyo survivor; 'I started rolling'

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - R.J. Lees knows he's lucky after being swept down a rain-swollen Albuquerque arroyo Wednesday telling News 13, "I totally underestimated it."

Lees, 16, said he was playing football with his friends near the Embudo Arroyo when they became curious and walked over to the channel which had a little more than a foot of water in it.

"All my friends were feeling it with their hand," he said. "They put one foot in; I put one foot in.

"I thought, 'I swim in oceans; it's not that bad,' so I put two feet it. I thought OK, it's a little strong, and I got a little wobbly.

"Then I went to turn around to go back, and fell on one hand in a linebacker position. I thought I could stay like that for a while, and then I started rolling."

Lees would eventually travel nearly seven miles down the arroyo before firefighters with ropes plucked him from the water near Cutler and Morningside NE.

All the while his mother was frantically looking for him.

"I called my son, and one of his friends answered and said, 'He is drowning,'" she said. "I got in my car and drove down there I saw the water and started running as fast as I could to see if I could see him.

"I was screaming the whole time, praying the whole time."

Lees says he positioned himself in a sitting position to keep his head from going under water. He said he didn't realize how serious the situation was until he saw how far he had traveled and realized it wasn't so easy to just pull himself out.

"I thought I could just roll down and grab something," he continued. "Of course it was stronger than I expected."

(Read Lee's friends' account of their failed rescue attempt. )

The teen then decided to take off his red T-shirt to try to flag down help and the used it to try to pull himself out.

"I don't know how, but I got really lucky I think," Lees said. "I threw it to the little ladder, threw my shirt between it and was hanging on with both my hands."

Lees says he nearly pulled himself out, but just couldn't and let go. He was hoping rescuers were waiting downstream. They were and pulled him to safety a short time later.

Lees was able to stand on his own but was taken to the hospital to be checked out anyway.

He escaped with scrapes on his legs and feet, arms, hands and backside.

His mom is especially thankful.

"I want to thank God my son made it. I don't know what I would have done if I lost him," she said. "I want to thank everybody for helping me."

As for Lees, he said he has learned a lesson.

"I was just curious," he told News 13. "I know people are smarter than that. I was smarter than that, I thought. You don't expect it."