NEW YORK
PIX 11
APRIL 12, 2018, BY ALLISON KADEN
Bridie Farrell, once an aspiring Olympic speed skate, is now an advocate for childhood sexual abuse victims. Farrell said she was abused when she was 15 by a much older, prominent Olympic skater. Farrell, now 36, is one of many survivors who cannot seek legal justice in New York because the alleged abuse happened too long ago.
Farrell joined other childhood sexual abuse victims, advocates and lawmakers outside the Lower Manhattan office of Zurich Insurance Thursday. The group was angry that Zurich and other insurance companies spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobby New York State Senate lawmakers to vote no on the Child Victims Act.
The legislation would allow New Yorkers like Bridie Farrell a longer window to come forward.
“No one has ever said I’m lying. I mean, he was known for these things,” Farrell said. “He would pick me up from school, and you know skip school, and go skate and then he would bring me to his house.”
A February 2018 poll from Quinnipiac University showed 90 percent of New Yorkers support changing the law so victims have more time to seek justice.
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