Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara’s Latest Defense Strategy Reminds Us that She is no Stranger to Playing the “Blame Game”
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Just days before the upcoming preliminary for Boston City Council, District 6 representative Kendra Lara is making headlines again regarding a June 2023 car accident that left a home damaged and a special needs child hospitalized.
Lara is accused of several criminal and misdemeanor charges stemming from this June incident, and has also faced scrutiny from the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) after a form 51A was filed for “neglect and failure to use a proper car seat for the child’s safety.”
The most recent and somewhat bizarre twist to this tale of personal, parental, and criminal negligence comes as a report provided by Councilor Lara’s defense claims to contradict the official investigation of the Boston Police.
To be clear, this report doesn’t allege that Councilor Lara had a valid license when she drove into a home at 803 Centre Street, nor does it state that the vehicle she was operating was properly registered. The defense is merely disputing the fact that Councilor Lara was speeding at the time of the offense.
This defense-provided report is the product of an accident reconstructionist company, The Crash Lab, which was commissioned and paid for by Lara and her team.
As The Boston Herald’s Gayla Cawley has since reported, the fee paid to The Crash Lab – which typically ranges anywhere from $2500 to $5000 – was financed by Lara as well as several members of a local organization known as Jamaica Plain (JP) Progressives.
This Crash Lab report claims to base its findings on “black box” data recovered from the vehicle Lara was driving when she crashed into the home.
According to Councilor Lara, The Crash Lab report proves the District 6 representative was traveling 27mph at the moment of impact.
For some, these findings appear to contradict the official Boston Police report, which estimates that Lara was driving approximately 53mph prior to the moment of impact.
At this stage in Councilor Lara’s criminal proceedings, it is impossible to know exactly which of these reports, if either, are accurate.
What is clear, however, is that the privately funded report from the defense bases its findings upon her speed at the moment of impact, whereas the Boston Police report estimates her speed prior to the crash.
This hasn’t stopped local progressives, Kendra Lara Loyalists, and even some local media personas – such as Yawa Miller of The Bay State Banner – from reframing the discussion surrounding Lara into an opportunity to decry police misconduct while also fueling conspiracy theories that the Boston Police are engaged in a nefarious plot to undermine a female councilor-of-color.
But even as a reinvigoration of the anti-police rhetoric of 2020 and 2021 permeates the discussion surrounding these reports, few of Lara’s Loyalists have cared to view the evidence through a rational lens.
For starters, the difference between the moment of impact and prior to impact has been wholly lost on them.
Also lost on these Loyalists is the fact that, prior to plunging her vehicle into the home located at 803 Centre Street, Lara first had to drive over the curb and through a wrought iron fence as she barreled into the residential structure with such force that its foundation cracked.
Is it possible that these obstacles may have slowed her vehicle down by the time the car she was driving became wedged into the side of this home?
More interesting than these pro-Lara arguments, however, is that this latest line of defense highlights the Councilor’s tendency to blame others for her own mistakes.
As this audio recording obtained by BAN shows, Councilor Lara blames the Boston Police for listing the incorrect address that appears on her criminal charges with the Trial Court:
During this recording, which was taken during a residency challenge brought against Councilor Lara, you can hear her explicitly state:
"There was a claim made about me listing my address with the trial court as 161 South Huntington Avenue. That's categorically false. I did not list my address with the trial court. The officer who filed the complaint against me likely used the address that was on file, but when asked by the Boston Police Department what my address was, I offered 46 Saint Rose Street."
It is important to note that Lara attended a Clerk Magistrate’s hearing prior to being arraigned on criminal charges related to the crash. The address Lara says is inaccurate (161 South Huntington) is listed on the criminal complaint that was filed after Lara met with the Magistrate. Why didn’t she correct her address during this meeting?
This Trial Court paperwork also lists the name given by the Councilor to police at the scene of the crime – Kendra Lara.
According to the following audio recording, the Councilor states in no uncertain terms that her “legal name is Kendra Hicks.”
One key passage from this recording of Councilor Lara is when she says:
"All of my legal documents have my legal name [Kendra Hicks] and I use Kendra Lara only as an alias on the Boston City Council."
Apparently, Councilor Lara doesn’t consider official criminal charges with the Massachusetts Trial Court to be a legal document:
Nor does Councilor Lara seem to view her voter registration to be a legal document:
Lara also doesn’t appear to consider her filing status with the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF) to be a legal document:
In true Kendra Lara (or should we say Kendra Hicks) fashion, her use of an alias is being spun as the fault of someone else too. In this instance, it is her ex-husband that is to blame.
Luckily for Lara though, her ex-husband Reggie Hiicks only took issue with her using his name. Curiously, Mr. Hicks was perfectly fine with the Councilor living with him in their taxpayer-funded project apartment until February 2023, almost two years after Kendra started using the name Lara.
Councilor Lara has also made it clear that she is not at fault for having her license revoked nearly a decade ago, nor is she to blame for driving without one this past June.
Rather, the blame for these offenses falls squarely on the shoulders of the Registry of Motor Vehicles, her supposed “lack of resources,” and even the requirements of having a special needs son.
The Councilor states:
"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 can be in that situation, especially as a single parent and a parent of a child with special needs. Ideally, I would’ve had the resources to make different decisions but I didn’t and my hope is that my mistake does not overshadow the two years of work that I’ve done on this council."
The pattern is clear.
All the misconduct, misinformation, criminal behavior, and parental failures enveloping this woman’s life are simply not Kendra Lara’s fault.
There is always someone else to blame; something else that prevents her from doing the right (read: adult) thing.
The lack of personal accountability that results when you go through life portraying yourself as a perpetual victim certainly seems liberating.
This may help explain why, despite her desire to be held “fully accountable,” Councilor Lara and her defense attorney, Carlton Williams, filed two motions to dismiss the charges against her on July 19, 2023.
Recent claims have also surfaced that Lara filed a separate motion to dismiss this past Wednesday, September 6, 2023. BAN has reached out to Councilor Lara to confirm the validity of these allegations but has not yet received a response.
Another attempt to dismiss her charges last week certainly seems plausible, however. As the following video from September 7, 2023, shows, Councilor Lara and Attorney Williams have begun viewing Lara as the real victim of this incident:
While this most recent strategy relies heavily on Lara’s “perpetual victim” status, the original motions to dismiss were predicated on the argument that Lara did not receive her citations at the scene, nor at the address she gave to the police.
For Councilor Lara, the charges against her for driving without a license (in an unregistered and uninspected car while her son was improperly restrained) should have already been dropped because it was really the police who failed to do the right thing.
Put differently, Lara and her Loyalists now feel the Boston Police should never have allowed the Councilor to accompany her distraught, bloody, non-verbal, special needs son to the hospital after he obtained a severe head injury when she drove into a house.
Could you imagine the outrage that would have emanated from her progressive posse had the police arrested Lara at the scene (like they would have to anyone else) and sent her child to the hospital alone?
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t when dealing with Boston’s favorite socialist victim.
As a result of this investigation, BAN is formerly submitting the following questions to Kendra Lara for comment:
- Are you willing to release the privately funded report produced by The Crash Lab?
How much did this report cost? How much did you personally pay, and how much was funded by JP Progressive membership?
Do you think that whether you were speeding is really the most important charge you should be publicly addressing?
Why are there two conflicting statements regarding your address? Did the police come up with your mailing address on their own, or did you give it to them?
There are allegations that you were in court again this past Wednesday, September 6, 2023, trying to have your case dismissed. Is there any validity to this?
You’ve previously stated that you want to be held “fully accountable” for your actions. What actions do you think you should be held accountable for? Do you think trying to have your case dismissed on a technicality is in line with being held accountable? If the legal system is not the appropriate way to “hold you accountable,” what do you feel is?
Why did you give the Boston Police Department an alias at the scene of the accident? Why do you have this alias listed on the Trial Court documents? On your OCPF paperwork? Your voter registration?
Those interested in reading more about Lara’s attorney, Carlton Williams, and his reasons for being listed as the “Antisemite of the Week” on April 14, 2023, can do so by clicking here.
As many may recall, Councilor Lara herself is no stranger to allegations of antisemitism. Lara faced harsh backlash last year when she posted the following to social media:
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