EXCLUSIVEMother tells how she lost her house, job and nearly her kids when she was arrested in Kamala Harris' 'war on truancy' after disabled 11-year-old daughter missed school
When police pounded on Cheree Peoples's door and placed her in handcuffs she tried to explain that it was all a misunderstanding.
Her 11-year-old daughter was disabled and had only missed school because she was in severe pain and needed hospital treatment.
'Go talk to Kamala Harris,' an officer growled back at the woman in pajamas. 'Place your hands behind your back.'
Single mom Cheree, 45, was perp-walked, taken to jail and afforded the level of news coverage one might expect in a high-profile murder case.
Cheree Peoples was arrested in 2013 under then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris's policy to punish the parents of truant students
Shayla has sickle cell anemia, a chronic blood disorder which left her struggling to walk as an 11-year-old. Her bouts of excruciating pain forced her to miss school 60 times in a single year
But her 2013 arrest was all part of a splashy 'war on truancy' championed by Vice President Harris during her tenure as California's attorney general.
More than a decade later, the presidential candidate is pitching herself to the American electorate as a tough-on-crime former district attorney who took down predators, gangs, and fraudsters in the Golden State.
Cheree was none of those things and yet she was treated like a common criminal and put through 'two years of hell' before the case was finally dropped, she told DailyMail.com this week in an exclusive interview.
'My baby was sick, the school knew that – but Kamala Harris could not wait to throw a black woman with a disabled child into jail,' the mother-of-two fumed.
'She's a fake, she has no empathy and her policies are bad for parents. My message to black Americans: do not trust Kamala Harris.'
The troubling story of how a low income, minority parent found herself in the crosshairs of one of America's most powerful political figures is examined in the new documentary, Arrested by Kamala: A Black Mother's Story.
Harris considered the problem of persistent truancy in the California school system and concluded that chronic truants were statistically more likely to grow up to become gang members.
Cheree's 2013 arrest was all part of a splashy 'war on truancy' championed by Vice President Harris during her tenure as California 's attorney general
Filmmaker Joel Gilbert reveals that her solution was to go after parents, even if the majority of those affected would be from the same poor, black families she was promising to help.
As San Francisco district attorney and later state attorney general, Harris backed a statewide truancy bill threatening parents with a criminal misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail and a $2,500 fine if their kids skipped 10 percent of classes.
Cheree, one of the first to face arrest, was far from a deadbeat mom, as Gilbert's film reveals.
Her daughter was born with sickle cell anemia, a chronic blood disorder which left the little girl struggling to walk and prone to bouts of excruciating pain.
Shayla required powerful pain medication and blood transfusions every three weeks along with countless doctors' visits and trips to the hospital.
'She would say, mom, it feels like someone is stabbing me over and over with an ice pick,' Cheree, a nursing assistant and fulltime caregiver, said.
'I would have to give her bed baths instead of a shower because even the splashing of water was painful.
'The motion of driving could also be very painful. If you were going along a bumpy road it was almost like seeing a mom in labor pains on the way to the hospital, screaming at the top of her lungs.'
Inevitably, this meant Shayla missed significant stretches of school.
Shayla required powerful pain medication and blood transfusions every three weeks along with countless doctors' visits and trips to the hospital
In May 2015, just weeks before her charges were finally dismissed, Shayla suffered a stroke that paralyzed her down her right side
That year the little girl had over 60 absences from the Carl E. Gilbert Elementary School in Buena Park, Orange County.
Cheree had a formal 504 plan outlining the special accommodations her daughter required.
She felt she had supplied more than enough medical paperwork to account for all 60 days, but the school disagreed.
In all, 20 days were left unexplained and that was enough for Orange County's anti-gang task force to snap into action.
Cheree was three months postpartum following the birth of her son Rayden and was wearing just her pajamas when they came to arrest her on April 18, 2013.
'I said, are you really going to handcuff me, y'all got guns and stuff, I'm not about to run. They said yes Miss Peoples, it's the law,' she recalled.
'They placed a jacket around me and as I'm going out the door I can already hear the clicking of the news cameras.
'There were so many cars and trucks and people in suits, I thought, what is this? Did someone get murdered? This is what happens on Cops.
'I just couldn't believe that I was going to jail for truancy. I've got this sick daughter, I've got a 504 plan, I've got federal documents to protect my daughter and yet they are taking me in.
'Parents have a right to advocate for their child without being victimized or criminalized.'
The booking form for Cheree when she was taken to the county jail after her arrest
A police press release detailing Cheree's arrest at the time
Cheree believed she would be set free as soon as she had a chance to explain Shayla's medical condition.
Instead, she was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and failure to reasonably supervise or encourage school attendance before being released hours later.
Shayla, now aged 22, heard about her mom's arrest on the news. She struggled to comprehend what had happened and, heartbreakingly, even blamed herself.
'I saw the picture of my mom in handcuffs and I was just completely in shock and confused,' she told DailyMail.com.
'I felt like maybe if I wasn't sick or if I had just forced myself to go to school regardless of how bad my pain was, none of this would have happened.
'My mom did nothing wrong.'
For more than two years, Cheree protested her innocence, declining a plea deal that offered her parenting classes instead of a prison sentence.
She lost her job, her home, and was forced to live between motels, struggling to pay her legal bills and worrying that her kids would be taken into care.
Doctor's note for Shayla written two year earlier, outlining her condition
Harris considered the problem of persistent truancy in the California school system and concluded that chronic truants were statistically more likely to grow up to become gang members
But every time Cheree's case went to trial, she says the attorneys would huddle in the judge's chambers and decide to push it back without explanation.
In May 2015, just weeks before her charges were finally dismissed, Shayla suffered a stroke that paralyzed her down her right side.
'The case exacerbated her illness, 100 percent,' added Cheree, fighting tears.
'I lost a piece of my child that I can never get back. Her dreams of being a chef were ruined.
'Kamala is not a biological mother so she will never understand what that means.'
In spite of her disability, Shayla graduated high school with a 3.8 GPA.
She and her family have done their best to put the episode behind them but every time Harris stands for office, Cheree's arrest is thrust back into the news cycle.
During her failed bid to become the Democratic presidential candidate for the 2020 election, Harris dismissed her one-time truancy blitz as a mere deterrent.
'The people around me said, don't do it, because you are going to pay a price for this in terms of whatever future you want in politics,' she told The Root.
'And I said, look, I'm prepared to play the bad guy on this. I do not intend to put any parent in jail. And no parent went to jail.'
In spite of her disability, Shayla graduated high school with a 3.8 GPA. She is pictured with her little brother
Cheree had a formal 504 plan outlining the special accommodations her daughter required, but that wasn't enough for the school
The warrant for Cheree's arrest under Harris's policy of punishing parents of truant students
For Shayla, that last statement qualifies as an outright lie.
She's now old enough to vote but wants an apology from Harris before she would consider casting a ballot for the Democrat candidate.
But while Gilbert's documentary is creating considerable buzz – Donald Trump has enthusiastically posted about it on Truth Social – there has been nothing thus far from Harris's camp.
'I'm not a political person but, from the standpoint of just being a decent human being, Kamala Harris should know she was in the wrong,' Shayla told DailyMail.com.
'I do feel that she owes my mother an apology and that she should retract her statement about not harming anyone.
'From the moment I was born my mother has done nothing but try to provide me with the best care possible.
'For her to be painted as a criminal and handcuffed like she had just murdered someone was very humiliating and very hurtful.'
* Produced by Los Angeles documentary maker Joel Gilbert and Highway 61 Entertainment, Arrested by Kamala: A Black Mother's Story is available to watch online.
