Driver Convicted In Racist Pickup Truck Killing In Belmont: Jury

BELMONT, MA — A Hudson man has been convicted of second-degree murder in connection to a racist road rage incident in Belmont in 2021, according to Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan.

Dean Kapsalis yelled racial slurs before driving his pickup truck into Henry Tapia, a 35-year-old Black and Latino man from Boston, during a confrontation along Upland Road in Belmont in January 2021.

Kapsalis was arrested and later charged with murder, violating Tapia's civil rights, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and leaving the scene of a crash.

Ryan said the two men were standing outside their cars yelling at each other about the use of a blinker. Tapia was standing outside his car when Kapsalis got into his pickup truck and drove over Tapia, prosecutors have said. When police got to the scene, they found Tapia with life-threatening injuries, lying in the road near the driver’s side of his car, according to the DA's office.

First responders gave Tapia medical attention on scene for nearly 20 minutes before he was rushed to the hospital, where he died. Kapsalis turned himself in to the Belmont police about a half hour after the incident happened, according to the DA's office.

Tapia's murder sparked protests in Belmont. Tapia was a father of three, and his children and family attended a vigil two days after his death.

Ryan called the killing a "racially motivated, senseless tragedy," and said her office would make civil rights charges prominent if similar cases arise in the future.

"We will seek full accountability. It will not be a background fact," she said.