12/10/12 - A Tennessee medical examiner has concluded a rollover crash involving a tourist trolley contributed to the death of a Livingston County woman, but was not the primary cause. Eunice Spencer of Fowlerville died September 14th, 11 days after the Labor Day crash in Gatlinburg. The Tennessee Highway Patrol said the accident happened after the driver of a trolley negotiating a right hand curve pulled off to the side of the road to avoid oncoming traffic. Authorities say the weight of the trolley caused the ground to collapse beneath it. The trolley then overturned and rolled down an embankment, throwing Spencer from her seat. A second passenger in the trolley from Brown City, Michigan sustained non-life threatening injuries. Spencer and the other woman were visiting the area following a wedding in North Carolina and were riding the trolley to see an arts and crafts community. Spencer was taken to University of Tennessee Hospital with broken ribs and other injuries. The final autopsy report said Spencer died of cardiovascular disease and that other conditions contributed to her death - among them blunt force chest trauma, asthma, emphysema and obesity. (JK)
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