William Henry 'Bill' Cosby: Charges of Deception, Drugs, Wine, And Sexual Assault

Under “Police Report,” the name “William Henry Cosby” appears, an almost jolting formality given who it identifies, Bill Cosby, who for decades served as comedic father-figure for a generation or more of Americans.

What’s written below his name, though, is what’s truly startling: an outline of how he allegedly drugged, then sexually penetrated, a young woman who had looked to him as a mentor.

The report grows progressively disturbing as it continues.

• “William Henry Cosby did penetrate the genitals of the complainant with a part of his body without the complainant’s consent.”
• “William Henry Cosby did penetrate the genitals of the complainant with a part of his body while the complainant was unconscious.”
• “William Henry Cosby did penetrate the genitals of the complainant with a part of his body after Cosby substantially impaired the complainant’s power to appraise or control her conduct by administering drugs, intoxicants, or other means for the purpose of preventing resistance.”

Each statement resounds as a blow not only to his reputation, but to the uniquely delicate trust placed in him by families around the country. The blows spell out a betrayal of a special kind because of what Cosby represented: wholesomeness, guilelessness, the warmth inherent in the most innocent of jokesters. The name Bill Cosby had conjured images of sweaters, G-rated laughter, and the face of a homely grandfather; even still after a long parade of women had come forward to accuse him of sex crimes.

Still convicted of nothing, that may have changed with details released Wednesday about the indecent sexual assault charge he now faces.

Even if proved innocent in this case and in any possible future legal proceedings, it would seem too much damage has been done to the icon.

***

William Henry Cosby first met Andrea Constand sometime after December 2001. Constand was the Director of Operations of Temple University’s women’s basketball team, which is Cosby’s alma mater.

As they got to know one another, Cosby established a business relationship with Constand. They spoke through university channels. And after a time, they exchanged personal phone numbers.

Cosby would later admit that he developed a romantic interest in Constand the first time he saw her at a Temple basketball game.

From Constand’s perspective, they had developed a genuine friendship.

Cosby was 37 years older than her. An affidavit of probable cause describes even describes how she looked up to him as a mentor.

Cosby introduced her to his world and gave her professional and personal advice, seemingly in the fatherly way that much of America might imagine Cosby giving advice.

Constand had no romantic interest in Cosby, and Cosby wasn’t showing any, even if he felt it. This was, to all appearances, the real Bill Cosby.

There was no evidence of the William Henry Cosby of police reports.

***

That is until several months after their first meeting, when Cosby first invited her over to his Cheltenham home on New Second Street for dinner.

According to court papers released with Cosby’s charging and to transcripts of a civil suit published Thursday by The New York Times, the relationship at first involved innocent flirtation, at least on Cosby’s part.

The pair sat together by a fire while Cosby’s private chef cooked dinner. She drank red wine and ate dinner when it was served. After dinner, when they moved to the couch, Cosby reached over and touched her pants, her waist, and her inner thigh.

Constand stood up quickly and gathered her things. Cosby gave her a bottle of perfume before she left, embarrassed. She had never imagined Cosby would make advances toward her.

Constand returned for another visit some days later. After she had a few glasses of wine, she was in the middle of a talking when suddenly, “out of the blue,” Cosby reached over and unbuttoned her pants.

She leaned forward to stop him, but it didn’t come to that. He walked away abruptly into the kitchen. She left his home immediately.

They never discussed the incident.

Yet still there was no sign that Cosby meant her harm beyond his apparent attraction, and indeed, the two continued as friends.

She attended multiple dinners at his home, one for influential members of the Philadelphia restaurant community, another for various academic leaders, including the president of Swarthmore College and professors from the University of Pennsylvania. There were also events they attended together in New York City and a casino in Connecticut. It was January 2004.

Of this much, they agree.

***

A few weeks passed.

One day, sometime between mid-January and mid-February 2004, Constand got a phone call.

This time, though, it was William Henry Cosby on the other end of the line.

According to charging documents, he invited her over to discuss Constand’s career plans. There would no one else there. She could dress in comfortable clothes.

She arrived at his home at about 8:45 p.m. They sat together at a table near the front door and talked about her life, her goals, her future. She told Cosby she felt “emotionally occupied” and that she’d had trouble sleeping lately.

After ten minutes or so, William Henry Cosby went upstairs and returned with three blue pills in his hand.

“These will make you feel good,” he allegedly told her. “The blue things will take the edge off.”

“Are they herbal?” Constand asked, according to the court papers.

“Yes,” William Henry Cosby affirmed, and then motioned with his hands that she should take the pills. “Down them. Put ‘em down. Put them in your mouth.”

Constand took a proffered cup of water from him, told him she trusted him, and swallowed down the pills.

“Taste the wine,” he added, offering her a glass.

Constand deferred, saying she hadn’t eaten anything that day.

“Just taste the wine,” he said, according to her account given to prosecutors

She took a few sips.

Time passed. Within twenty or thirty minutes, she had trouble seeing clearly or speaking. Her legs felt rubbery, “like jelly.” She was dizzy and nauseous. She couldn’t hear anything, had no sense of time, and was in and out of consciousness. William Henry Cosby led her to the couch, she told prosecutors.

“I’m going to let you relax,” he allegedly said.

The next morning, William Henry Cosby was standing near the door, dressed in a robe. He handed her a muffin.

“All right,” he said, and opened the door.

***

Constand left without saying anything.

It wasn’t long until the nightmares started.

She had memories of what happened after she lost control of her body that night, her mother told investigators

She had been almost completely paralyzed and could not move any of her limbs. She could not speak. She remembered Cosby touching her breasts, putting his hands into her pants and inside her body, and grabbing her hand and putting it on his genitals, according to Constand’s account, provided in the charging documents.

When she woke up it was 4 in the morning. Her sweater was bunched up and her bra was undone.

Her mother immediately noticed something was wrong with her in the months after the assault, but Constand did not answer her when she pressed her for information. She would sometimes scream out in her sleep in the middle of the night. She isolated herself from her friends. She was not the daughter her mother knew.

On Thursday, January 13, 2005, Constand told her mother what had happened.

***

Cosby did not deny the house visit but has denied the criminal aspects of their meeting.

He corroborated nearly all the details of Constand’s story, first to her mother in a phone call, and then to investigators, right down to the muffin (blueberry, Cosby added) handed to her on the way out the door.

The one difference: Cosby called the incident a consensual encounter. Constand never told him to stop, he alleged. She never pushed him away.

In the weeks and months to follow, Cosby allegedly tried to “make it right” with Constand and her mother. He offered to fly them to Florida to discuss the situation. They refused. He also offered to pay for Constand’s graduate school tuition.

Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor decided in February 2005 not to prosecute. Constand then won a civil suit against Cosby for battery and sexual assault, a case which ran from March 8 2005 through to July 13, 2006.

***

The case against Cosby was reopened in July 2015.

The main point of disagreement, aside from whether or not the encounter was consensual, lies in the nature of the pills he gave Constand.

In a 2005 deposition, Cosby admitted getting a prescription for Quaaludes in order to give them to young women who he wanted to have sex with.

Yet he maintains that the pills he gave Constand were Benadryl. Investigators have described Cosby’s descriptions of the drugs he gave Constand as “evasive and conflicting.” First he told Constand’s mother that he couldn’t read the label on the pill bottle due to his poor eyesight. Weeks later, he told investigators it was Benadryl.

***

Cosby’s relationship with Constand is only one of more than 40 alleged inappropriate encounters with women, dating back to 1965.

This is the first time, however, that criminal charges have been filed against Bill Cosby, or, more correctly, as the court papers state, William Henry Cosby.

Image via The World Affairs Council and Girard College present Bill Cosby.