Woman Left Paralyzed From Tram Accident -- Medina Neighbors Worry About Other Lifts

MEDINA - One woman is paralyzed and two other people remain hospitalized in serious condition following the weekend accident in which a private tram carrying five guests to a Christmas party slid more than 100 feet down a steep hillside and crashed into a home.

Medina police still are investigating what happened, though it appears a restraining cable that slows the tram's descent might have broken. The accident stunned residents of the waterfront Evergreen Point neighborhood where the accident took place.

"We're all scared to death, because we all have tramways along here," said neighbor Nancy Bigelow. Jim and Cynthia Roush, who own the home and tramway at 2441 Evergreen Point Road on Lake Washington, would not discuss the accident.

Joyce Windsor, 63, was listed in serious condition today in an intensive-care unit at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle after undergoing tests at the University of Washington Medical Center to determine the extent of her paralysis. Cassandra Collier, 42, was listed in serious condition at Overlake Medical Center, where her daughter, Cary Collier, 12, was in satisfactory condition.

Windsor's husband, Robert Windsor, 63, and Collier's 8-year-old daughter, whose name was not disclosed, were treated for minor injuries at Overlake and released late Saturday, according to hospital records.

Medina Police Sgt. Becky Elliott said Cynthia Roush told her the tram had been inspected and received routine maintenance just five weeks ago. Walt Allman, president of A&M Elevator Inc. of Renton, said his company has maintained the Roushes' tram for years. "I don't understand what happened," he said, adding that he had not heard about the accident until The Times contacted him yesterday.

The tram, which was suspended from steel cables and hung about one foot above the ground, ran about 500 feet from a driveway at the top of the bluff to the home.

Elliott said the tram was about 100 to 150 feet above the house when it apparently broke loose. As it plunged down the hillside, a section of the wooden floor below Joyce Windsor ripped away, and one of her legs apparently was dragged along beneath the tram, Elliott said.

The 8-year-old girl escaped quickly, but it took nearly an hour and a half to free the other four passengers, Elliott said.

"Theirs is the most professionally installed of any of our trams" in that neighborhood, said Bigelow. "They maintain it so carefully. . . . It's just the sort of thing you pray will never happen."