Josephine Silva at her booth at the Redwood Acres Fair on June 22, before the accident | Submitted

Josephine Silva, an 87-year-old Eureka resident and children’s books author, was recently injured in a bizarre accident when she was hit by “The Choo Choo Train” – a small train-like shuttle vehicle – at the Redwood Acres Fair on June 22. 

Reached by the Outpost on Tuesday, Silva said she had just been released from Providence St. Joseph Hospital on Monday after a more than two-week stay, during which she received stitches and multiple blood transfusions. 

“It’s gonna take a while still,” Silva said weakly over the phone. “I’m just gonna lay low for a few days and get back my strength.” 

The incident occurred in the afternoon on Thursday, June 22, when Silva was walking near the exposition building and  the train, which ferries kids around the grounds, struck her from behind. Silva fell, striking her head on the pavement, and the vehicle came to a stop on top of her legs. Silva was conscious the entire time, she said, but was unable to see everything that was happening. She did say that someone lifted the vehicle off of her and EMTs transported her to St. Joe’s.

According to Talia Flores, public information officer for Humboldt Bay Fire, a call came in at 2:02 p.m. that a pedestrian had been “struck by a small train ride [that was] a similar size to a golf cart.” One HBF engine and a City Ambulance responded to the fairgrounds to find Silva on the ground. The report, Flores said, stated that the vehicle had already been lifted off of Silva by a group of bystanders by the time responders arrived on the scene. 

“She had a deformity of the lower right leg and heavy bleeding,” Flores told the Outpost, reading from the incident report. “[The responders] did place a tourniquet above the right knee until the bleeding stopped.”

Flores added that, according to the report, Silva also had a small cut on her forehead, but most of the damage was to her right leg. Silva’s vitals were pretty regular, Flores said, and she “denied losing consciousness.” Silva was transported to the ER via City Ambulance with no further incident. 

It is not exactly clear how Silva was hit by the train, since she was hit from behind and did not see the vehicle or who was driving. But she can only assume that the driver was unable to see her. Though she was wearing a bright pink jacket at the time she was hit she is a very small woman – only about four feet, three inches tall, she said. It does concern Silva, however, that the driver could not see her at a fair, where a lot of small children are running around. 

“If I had been a child, he probably would’ve killed me,” Silva said. 

One of Silva’s books | Submitted

The timing couldn’t have been worse for Silva, who had a booth at the fair where she was selling her recently published “Baby Berry Bear,” a series of five children’s books Silva has written about the adventures of a teddy bear.

Silva has a great love of teddy bears and also sews stuffed teddy bears, dressing them in different costumes. This was Silva’s first time selling her books in public, she said, and she was very excited to be making her big debut.

Of course, following the accident, Silva’s booth – which was being manned by her son at the time she was hit – had close. Silva also had a booth booked at Eureka’s Fourth of July Festival, which she had to cancel because she was still in the hospital. 

When asked if she planned to press charges, Silva said that she has hired a lawyer but is not sure how she wants to proceed. She believes this was an accident and said she’s not even mad at anyone. She mostly just wants to focus on getting better. 

It’s also unclear if any type of investigation is being done into the incident. Multiple attempts to reach Redwood Acres CEO Mic Moulton were unanswered by the time this article was published. The Outpost will update if we hear more. 

Though the incident was very difficult, both physically and emotionally, Silva is maintaining a surprisingly positive attitude and is hopeful that she’ll be good as new in no time. Silva said she is getting her stitches taken out tomorrow and is already feeling much better than when she was released Monday.

“I was scared, very scared, and I’m still very weak,” Silva said. “But I’ll be all right. I’m a tough little cookie.”