Former Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara has pleaded guilty to one of the several charges she faced in a Jamaica Plain car crash that left her son injured last summer, receiving probation in a case that caused a political scandal.
Three of the other charges Lara faced were dismissed or continued without a finding, while a judge found her responsible for another charge and not responsible for two more. In addition to probation, Lara was ordered to apologize to the owner of the home that she crashed into in on June 30, 2023.
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Lara lost her bid for reelection in last year's primary while the case played out. She told NBC10 Boston shortly before the primary that she couldn't see a way she could completely eliminate driving without a license to properly take care of her son while pushing the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles to restore her license over a 2014 speeding ticket in Connecticut.
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On Wednesday, Lara pleaded guilty in court in West Roxbury to the charge of driving on a suspended license, according to court documents, and she was found responsible for not putting her passenger in a car seat she was required to. Judge Kathleen Coffey dismissed charges of permitting injury to a child and driving without insurance, continued without a finding the charge of negligent operation of a motor vehicle and found Lara not responsible for charges of having an unregistered motor vehicle and failing to wear a seat belt.
NBC10 Boston reached out to Lara and her lawyer but didn't immediately hear back.
Lara maintained that she was driving far slower than the 53 mph that Boston police have said she was traveling at the time of the crash, which left her car on the lawn of a home on Centre Street. She also said that the car, which belonged to a friend, actually was insured and that its registration had only lapsed for a few weeks. She also claimed that her child, who was not seriously injured, was wearing a seatbelt, despite early reports that the 7-year-old boy was not properly restrained.
But worker's rights attorney Ben Weber and former Boston Public Schools employee William King ultimately won more votes, and Lara conceded. Weber won the general election and now represents Boston's 6th District.
