Boston City Councilor driving record shows multiple violations, including in CT

Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara’s driving record features multiple violations and sanctions, including failing to appear in court or trial in Connecticut.

That’s according to a state driving record provided to the Herald by the Registry of Motor Vehicles on Saturday, the day after she crashed her car into a house in Jamaica Plain.

The Connecticut violations, which also include not wearing a seatbelt and not obeying a traffic sign, occurred in 2014. The record also shows a violation in Dorchester for not possessing a vehicle registration in August 2010. Lara’s driver’s license status is “revoked,” according to the driving record, which was verified through the councilor’s address.

Lara was involved in a Friday afternoon car crash that left her child, Zaire, with “profuse bleeding” from a laceration on the left eyebrow and a home on Jamaica Plain’s Centre Street damaged, according to police. The city councilor is due in West Roxbury Court on charges of operating a motor vehicle after suspension, operating an unregistered motor vehicle and operating an uninsured motor vehicle.

A spokesperson for Lara did not respond to a request for comment Saturday afternoon but said in a Friday statement that the crash was a “scary situation for everyone involved.”

“Thankfully Councilor Lara and Zaire are expected to make a full recovery. She asks for privacy at this time,” the statement said.

Lara’s driving record also lists a National Driver Register violation in March 2015 in Connecticut and a Nonresident Violator Compact withdrawal from October 2014.

The National Driver Register is a database of out-of-state violations, arrests, or suspensions. Motor vehicle departments around the country provide the database with the names of individuals who have had their licenses revoked, suspended, or been involved in a serious traffic violation.

Record analysis

Nothing on the driving record is out of the ordinary, said Attorney Brian Simoneau, an expert on matters before the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

Simoneau said Lara’s driving record is “run of the mill.” But he said more information on the failure to appear in court or for a trial in Connecticut might shed light on why Lara’s license was revoked in 2014.

“There’s nothing glaring,” he told the Herald. “I don’t think there’s anything really particularly noteworthy.”

Simoneau said one oddity on the record shows Lara got a Massachusetts ID card in 2022 instead of clearing up any potential issues in Connecticut and pursuing a driver’s license here.

“Why wouldn’t you just reinstate your license?” he said. “She would need to reinstate her right to drive in Connecticut and then provide proof of clearance to the Massachusetts registry, and then the Massachusetts registry would allow her to reinstate in Massachusetts.”

Lara, who was driving an unregistered vehicle with a revoked license, said she was traveling on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain Friday when she swerved her car to the left into a home to avoid hitting another vehicle that was parked along the side of the road, according to a redacted police report released Saturday morning.

The Boston police report does not name Lara but multiple sources confirmed to the Herald Friday night that Lara is the driver in the report who crashed into the house, which the city valued at over $1 million in fiscal year 2023.

Lara’s office also confirmed the city councilor had been involved in a car crash.

“[Redacted] stated she swerved the car left to avoid collision with the vehicle and could not hit the brakes fast enough before colliding with the home,” the police report said. “[Redacted] explained to Officer (T’Asia) Zayas that the other driver of the other vehicle did not appear to check their mirrors or assess the situation before pulling out.”

Another side of the story

The driver of the second vehicle involved in the crash pushed back on Lara’s narrative, telling the police he “was barely out of the parking spot” alongside the curb and “barely in motion” when he noticed a car driving down the street from behind him “at a high rate of speed.”

“He stated he did not pull away from the curb due to the high rate of speed that vehicle #1 was traveling,” the police report said. “[Redacted] noted that the vehicle passed by him quickly and then suddenly turned left, crashing into the home.”

The driver, whose name was redacted in the report, said “he was not close to hitting the car and believed that the other driver was speeding,” according to the police report.

The neighborhood

Adam Reid has been in Jamaica Plain since 2019 and lives around the corner from the house Lara crashed into. He said people typically speed on Centre Street and the side streets.

“Where all the main businesses are, it’s definitely scary when there’s cars parked on the side,” he said Saturday afternoon.

Ciael, who lives across the street from the damaged house and declined to give her last name, said speeding on Centre Street is one of the problems residents deal with.

“People see a straightaway” and go for it, she said.

Nobody answered the door of the damaged house Saturday afternoon.

Injuries

Both Lara and her son, Zaire, had seatbelts on at the time of the crash. But the child was not in a booster seat, according to police. Children under the age of 8 or below 57 inches must ride a “federally approved child passenger restraint,” according to Boston police.

“As a result, a 51A report was filed due to neglect and failure to use a proper car seat for the child’s safety,” the police report said. “[The Department of Children and Families] was notified.”

A 51A report is filed when officials believe there is suspected child abuse or neglect.

Police said Zaire had bruising around the left eye and a “deep laceration on the left eyebrow, resulting in profuse bleeding from the wound area.”

Zaire was admitted to Boston Children’s Hospital where he received several stitches, Lara’s chief of staff said in the Friday statement.