Do y’all remember the lady who appeared at Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial in 2018? She was one of five women who testified about their experiences with the comedian/actor on behalf of Andrea Constand. Now, she’s filed her own lawsuit seeking justice.
The words, “You remember, don’t you?” uttered from the stand made headlines everywhere and caused a frenzy of objections in the courtroom as Chelan Lasha recalled her experience from 1986. As documented in the lawsuit, Lasha said she was 17-years-old when she met Cosby. Lasha claims Cosby sought to befriend her after seeing her photo on her stepmother’s desk. He then allegedly offered to help her with her aspirations to be a professional model.
Lasha says she worked at the desk at the Las Vegas Hilton when Cosby contacted her asking her to meet him at his room in the Elvis Presley Suite. He allegedly offered her a shoot with a photographer. After the shoot was done, Cosby told her to change into a robe in the bathroom and while she was getting dressed, the cameraman left, the suit says.
When she stepped out the bathroom, she claims things took a turn for the worse.
Read her testimony of the incident from The New York Times:
She wet her hair to pose for modeling shots at Mr. Cosby’s request. Then he offered her what he said was an antihistamine to help her cold, and some almond liqueur. She took both, Ms. Lasha told a courtroom on Wednesday, because “I trusted him.”
Then, she said: “He laid me on the bed; I could not move any more after that. He kept pinching my breast and humping my leg. Waking up, I was naked.”
She said she heard him grunting, and with that, she imitated from the stand the sounds she said Mr. Cosby had made. And when it was over, Ms. Lasha said, Mr. Cosby told her, “Daddy said wake up,” before pushing her out the door.
In the 2018 trial against Cosby, the comedian’s attorneys grilled Lasha about a prior conviction for filing a false report in 2007 and also attending Cosby’s show two days after the alleged assault. Lasha responded that she didn’t want to attend the show but did so to please her grandmother. She also stated she told the police she had a “criminal history,” the Times reported.
Lasha’s suit comes after Nevada passed legislation to remove the statute of limitations on sexual assault in civil cases. Her lawsuit accuses Cosby of sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of a minor, battery assault and more offenses. She demands a jury trial and punitive damages.