Former Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara has pleaded guilty to driving with a suspended license in an incident that involved crashing her car into a Jamaica Plain home and injuring her son, according to court documents. The crash, which occurred in June 2023, resulted in Lara's vehicle hitting the front of a home, causing substantial damage and injuring her 7-year-old son, who was not seated in an appropriate child car seat at the time.
The 34-year-old ex-councilor appeared in Boston Municipal Court in West Roxbury yesterday, August 7, where she received a sentence of “administrative probation” and an order to pen a letter of apology to the elderly homeowner affected by the crash. As reported by MassLive, her license had been suspended since 2013, and, her son required several stitches at Boston Children’s Hospital following the incident.
The Boston Herald first reported Lara's sentencing and additional details emerged regarding the gravity of the situation. Lara's Honda Civic had been unregistered and uninsured at the time of the accident, and she was initially charged with nine offenses, including speeding and reckless driving. However, some charges were later dropped and others dismissed. "After the June 2023 crash, Lara was arraigned on nine charges and authorities alleged that she slammed an unregistered and uninsured car into a Jamaica Plain home while speeding with a revoked license," according to an account published by the Boston Herald.
In an attempt to clarify the circumstances of the incident, Lara claimed she was forced to swerve her car to avoid a vehicle that suddenly entered her lane, resulting in her losing control of her vehicle. A private firm hired by Lara determined her speed to be 27 miles per hour, whereas prosecutors estimated it was at 53 miles per hour during the crash, Lara’s attorney has yet to comment on the recent developments. Despite the turmoil of legal allegations and the crash, Lara also faced political defeat, losing her re-election bid for District 6 councilor a couple of months after the incident.
