“I got locked up for 30 days for being homeless”: Lexington woman shares her story

LEXINGTON, Ky. (ABC 36 NEWS NOW) — Her name is Terineka Cannon. She says she’s been unhoused since June.

“Some things happened that were unexpected that were not planned,” Cannon said. “We’re not animals, we’re people.”

She wants to remind people that her past struggles do not define who she is today.

“I’m a person, I’m someone’s daughter, someone’s sister, someone’s mother,” she said,

She hasn’t seen her 3-year-old son Glorious since last summer. She’s been trying to get him back, but there was a set back this past fall.

“I got locked up for 30 days for being homeless,” Cannon said.

She says it was the first cold snap of the season. Her and her son’s father knew they shouldn’t sleep in there, but they found a warm, heated car port.

“It’s cold, I mean where else are we gonna go, what else are we gonna do?” she asked.

While she was trying to rest, she woke up to officers standing over her.

“About 3:00 in the morning the police come waking us up,” she said.

She was charged with 3rd degree criminal trespassing and taken to jail.

“I mean I know how some situations makes the city looks bad,” she said. “When you got people laying all over the place and stuff like that.”

While many unhoused people say House Bill 5 is the reason for their arrest, Cannon was not charged under that law. She was charged with criminal trespassing.

“I’m a witness that it got passed and that they really don’t care. It was raining it was cold,” she said.

Now, she’s on the way to improving her life, finding a home, and getting her son back.

“I know what God’s asking of me so I’m about to do it now,” she said.