Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara and her attorney are disputing the speed that Boston police accused her of driving in the moments leading up to a June crash that sparked political and criminal challenges for Lara.
On Thursday evening, Lara and her attorney held a news conference, announcing that they had evidence to support that she was only driving 27 miles per hour at the time of the crash — a far cry from the at least 53 mph that Boston police claimed she had been driving before crashing into a Jamaica Plain home.
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"The last couple of months have been the most difficult I have ever experienced," Lara said Thursday. "This process has been made more difficult by inaccurate statements and misleading information."
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Lara and her attorney said that they worked with an organization that specializes in forensic crash investigations, which was able to obtain data from the car involved in the crash, including the speed it was traveling at. Her attorney called the Boston Police Department's speed accusation "dreadfully false," which has had a "very serious impact on Lara."
During Thursday's remarks, Lara also offered counterclaims to the other accusations she faces in the crash. She's been charged with driving an unregistered, unlicensed car, without a valid license.
She has now claimed that the car, which belongs to a friend, actually was insured, and that the registration had only lapsed for a few weeks. She also has claimed that her child was wearing a seatbelt, despite previous reports that the seven-year-old boy was not properly restrained.
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As for the license, she explained that she had difficulty with the bureaucracy of the RMV.
"I think that some people who are close to that issue will be able to understand how somebody would have difficulty navigating the RMV even when you've paid all of your fees and turned in all of your paperwork, how you could be in that situation, especially a single parent and a parent of someone with special needs," Lara said.
Last month, Lara's lawyer filed a motion to dismiss the case that brings a number of charges against her.
Prosecutors opposed the motion to dismiss the charges against Lara for allegedly driving with a revoked license, in an unregistered, uninsured car with an expired inspection sticker that belonged to someone else when she crashed into a house on June 30.
A not guilty plea was entered on Lara's behalf when she was arraigned, and she was ordered not to drive without a valid license.
The car hit a fence before crashing into the house, "causing significant damage," according to police. Lara told officers another car had pulled out in front of her and she swerved to avoid hitting it, but was unable to brake fast enough.
The man in the other car told police that he was barely out of the spot, then stopped when he saw a car speeding behind him. Witnesses told NBC10 Boston that they saw the car driving at a high speed.
The judge set the next date in the case for Oct. 20.
