Man convicted of road rage killing after altercation, slur

BELMONT, Mass. (AP) — Prosecutors say a 56-year-old Massachusetts man has been convicted of murder in the 2021 death of a Black man after a road rage encounter in which he yelled a racial slur. The Middlesex District Attorney’s office said Monday that Dean Kapsalis, of Hudson, was convicted of second-degree murder, violation of constitutional rights and other offenses in the killing of 34-year-old Henry Tapia. Prosecutors say Kapsalis and Tapia got into a verbal altercation Jan. 19, 2021. Investigators found that as it wound down, Kapsalis shouted the slur and then hit Tapia with his pickup. Tapia later died at a hospital. Kapsalis argued at trial that the ]death was an accident.