Boston police shared body-camera footage from different perspectives as officers rushed to Jamaica Plain on June 30 at 4:27 p.m. to untangle District 6 Councilor Kendra Lara’s crash that sent her 7-year-old son to Children’s Hospital with a gash over his eye. Here are some key takeaways:
As the city ambulance was about to pull away from the crash scene, a line of children crossed on the opposite side of Centre Street in a daisy chain often used by daycare providers as an extra precaution to ensure the safety of the children. In this case, the footage shows about 10 kids dressed in floppy-yellow T-shirts happily strolling along linked together on the sidewalk with adults in front and back of the line.
The T-shirts would make it easy to spot the kids. Yet, a few minutes earlier they all would have been dangerously close to the crash. They weren’t the only pedestrians. Parents could be seen walking with schoolchildren weighed down by backpacks; numerous dog walkers were on both sides of the busy street and a parent pushing a baby carriage also passed by, the footage shows.
The line of children pass the crash scene June 30 on Centre Street. (BPD body-camera footage.)
The owner of the 803 Centre St. home Lara’s car smashed into arrived back from shopping — she was worried about her ice cream melting in the car — and was told what had just happened.
“Is she alive?”
That was the first comment made by the 83-year-old owner of the Jamaica Plain home. The owner was stunned to see a car almost in her house, but she first asked about the victims.
The owner of the home was told she needed to call her insurance agent and a female officer helped her begin that process and communicate to her son a case number and more. The officer at one point bent over to pick up the elderly woman’s keys after she dropped them.
That Centre Street property is assessed at more than $1 million.
“Thank God this isn’t worse. I hope the boy is OK. What’s your name?” the owner asked the officer. “You’re so sweet. We need more women” on the force.
“My poor kitty-cats must be scared,” the owner added. “I have three of them.”
The owner, at far left, of the Jamaica Plain home City Councilor Kendra Lara crashed into June 30 first asked police if everyone was ok. (BPD body camera video screengrab.)
Lara, according to the audio on the footage, mislead police when she said “No” she did not have her license with her adding: “I can bring it,” she says on video.
That was not possible since Lara was driving an unregistered vehicle and her license had been revoked, as the Herald first reported.
Lara is charged with permitting bodily injury to a child under 14 years old, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, speeding, driving with a suspended license, driving an uninsured vehicle, driving an unregistered vehicle, failing to wear a seat belt, and not placing a child under 8 years old and under 58 inches in a car seat. She pleaded not guilty at her arraignment this week.
Councilor Kendra Lara crashed her car into a home on Centre Street at 4:27 p.m. (BPD body camera video screengrab.)
The witness who Lara said was beginning to pull out of his parking spot on Centre Street said he immediately stopped when he saw the Honda Civic she was driving come barreling down the road.
“She came by like a bat out of hell and just swerved. … It was bizarre,” he tells an officer.
That man stayed at the scene and gave police his license, registration and cell phone number.
“I just couldn’t hit the brakes fast enough,” an upset Lara is heard saying just before she climbed in an ambulance to be with her son. “He did not check his mirrors. The SUV came right in front of me.”
Someone at the scene, who appeared to be helping with the site, quickly noticed the car that was resting almost on the front porch had an expired registration sticker on the license plate.
Another officer helping in the investigation noticed some paperwork in the car that made her quickly say she needed to call back to the station after another officer said Lara appeared to “work for the city.”
A police officer takes a cell phone photo of Councilor Kendra Lara’s crash. (BPD body camera video screengrab.)
Firefighters, EMTs, police, the homeowner, witnesses and the other driver all remained calm at the scene and more concerned about the injured child, the body camera footage shows.
The lead officer is also shown heading inside Children’s Hospital and to Room 17 to check on Lara and her son. “I didn’t know you did that,” a man who steps out of the room is heard saying on the video. That man, who was not identified, then proceeded to ask what the other driver had told police.
You could hear Lara’s son upset in his hospital room as the officer kept to a professional response.
At one point in the hallway, someone off-camera is heard saying “You’re beautiful to the officer.” She again kept it low-key responding, “Thank you.”
Lara’s companion in the hospital room also quizzed her about her heritage. The officer again remained collegial. She also explained since she had to write up the official police report, she wanted to make sure the mother and child’s condition had not changed and all were OK.
Lara’s companion in the hospital room also quizzed her about her heritage. The officer again remained collegial. She also explained since she had to write up the official police report, she wanted to make sure the mother and child’s condition had not changed and all were OK.
Lara is due back in court on August 16. She has pleaded not guilty.
A police report said Lara was driving an uninsured, unregistered car that belonged to Somerville resident Thomas Owens with a revoked license at least 53 miles per hour in a 25-mile-per-hour zone.
Georgia Kalogerakis, the owner of the damaged Jamaica Plain home, said she has home insurance, adding this week Lara “should acknowledge her actions and what they caused and give some consideration to correcting them or providing for the damage. The car hit the foundation of my house, it moved the porch over, forget about the bush and the fence.”
The car slammed into the front porch of a home on Centre Street at 4:27 p.m. (BPD body camera video screengrab.)
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara was late to the meeting on Wednesday in Boston, MA. (Matt Stone/Boston Herald) July 19, 2023
Boston City Councilor’s Kendra Lara and Michael Flaherty on Wednesday in Boston, MA. (Matt Stone/Boston Herald) July 19, 2023
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara arrives with her attorney, Carl Williams and state Rep. Russell Holmes in West Roxbury District Court. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)
Boston City Councilor Julia Mejia arrives for the arraignment of Kendra Lara in West Roxbury District Court in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandez Anderson speaks to the media after the arraignment of Kendra Lara in West Roxbury District Court in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara walks with her attorney, Carl Williams, as she arrives in West Roxbury District Court in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara arrives in West Roxbury District Court in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara arrives in West Roxbury District Court in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Nancy Lane/Boston Herald
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara leaves West Roxbury District Court after her arraignment in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald .
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara leaves West Roxbury District Court after her arraignment in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara is surrounded by members of the media as she leaves West Roxbury District Court after her arraignment in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara leaves West Roxbury District Court after her arraignment in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara leaves West Roxbury District Court after her arraignment in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara walks with her attorney, Carl Williams, as she arrives in West Roxbury District Court in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara leaves West Roxbury District Court after her arraignment in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara leaves West Roxbury District Court after her arraignment in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara leaves West Roxbury District Court after her arraignment in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara leaves West Roxbury District Court after her arraignment. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara leaves West Roxbury District Court after her arraignment in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Nancy Lane/Boston Herald
Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo talks with Carl Williams, attorney for Kendra Lara who appeared in West Roxbury District Court in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara appears at a probable cause hearing in West Roxbury District Court in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara ,with her attorney Carl Williams, is arraigned in West Roxbury District Court in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara ,with her attorney Carl Williams, is arraigned in West Roxbury District Court in West Roxbury. At left his fellow city councilor Tania Fernandez Anderson. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara ,with her attorney Carl Williams, is arraigned in West Roxbury District Court in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara ,with her attorney Carl Williams, is arraigned in West Roxbury District Court in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Nancy Lane/Boston Herald
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara, with her attorney Carl Williams, is arraigned in West Roxbury District Court in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald .
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara appears at a probable cause hearing in West Roxbury District Court in West Roxbury. Staff Photo by Nancy Lane/Boston Herald (Wednesday,July 19, 2023).
Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara arrives for a hearing on a summons on traffic charges related to her craash into the side of a Jamaica Plain home last month. (Herald photo by Nancy Lane)
A scene at 803 Centre Street in Jamaica Plain a day after Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara crashed her car into the house. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)
Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald
The scene at 803 Center where it is alleged that City Councilor Kendra Lara had a car accident on July 1, 2023 in , BOSTON, MA. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)
BOSTON, MA - August 31: City Councilor Kendra Lara glares back at other members during a city councilor meeting at City Hall on August 31, 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
