A Costa Mesa woman who has accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault spoke out for the first time after the comedian was found guilty in a sexual assault retrial.
Linda Kirkpatrick is one of more than 60 Cosby accusers. She said that she traveled to Philadelphia to be in solidarity with her "sisterhood of survivors."
There, a jury found Cosby guilty of drugging and molesting a Temple employee in 2004. Cosby has denied the allegations. He could get up to 10 years in prison.
Kirkpatrick said the verdict should have given her a reason to celebrate, but there is still a wall around her, protecting many of those feelings.
"The elation I feel and the pain and the victimizations and the emotions you can possibly imagine is what I'm feeling," said Kirkpatrick, who was part of the group that worked to get California's 10-year statute of limitations on rape and sex crimes lifted. She hopes it empowers other assault victims.
Kirkpatrick was 24 years old when she said she met the actor and comedian at a Las Vegas tennis tournament in 1980. That night she was invited to see Cosby's comedy show.
"I ended up being by myself, escorted into his dressing room and handed a drink by Mr. Cosby," she said.
She said there was no relationship. She refers to that night as a "drive-by sexual assault."
"Not very far into it I lost consciousness and I have a few spotty memories, but my last conscious memory was of him being on top of me, kissing me, with my inability to escape."
