


Council President Ed Flynn blasted his colleague District 6 Councilor Kendra Lara in an open letter Wednesday, saying the people of Boston want to see elected officials demonstrate “maturity and take responsibility as adults.”
Flynn’s letter follows Lara’s crash Friday into a Jamaica Plain home while driving an unregistered car while she herself had a revoked driver’s license, according to a police report after the incident. Additionally, Lara’s son Zaire, who was injured, was not in a child seat as required, and the car was also un-inspected.
Police have summonsed Lara to court on the variety of motor vehicle charges and made a report to the Department of Children and Families in connection with the lack of a booster seat for her child.
Lara told police she swerved to avoid a car entering the street from a driveway and then couldn’t brake in time before she crashed into the house, according to a police report. The driver of the second vehicle disputed that, according to police, and said Lara was traveling at a high rate of speed coming down the street before she crashed into the house.
Flynn said city residents have reached out concerned about the “troubling details” of the incident.
“The people of Boston deserve the highest standards of strong and ethical leadership,” Flynn wrote.
“Moreover, they want elected officials who show maturity, take responsibility as adults, and demonstrate the ability to follow the same basic rules and norms as the people they serve when placing us in positions of public trust,” he continued.
Lara’s office did not immediately respond to a request for a response to Flynn’s letter.
Her office on Friday said in a 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.
The accident occurred Friday afternoon and 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.
Lara will be summonsed to West Roxbury Court on charges of operating a motor vehicle after suspension, operating an unregistered motor vehicle and operating an uninsured motor vehicle, according to police.
Lara’s driving record features multiple violations and sanctions, including failing to appear in court or trial in Connecticut, according to records obtained by the Herald.
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.