Belmont residents push Select Board to hire diversity director for town in wake of racial killing
By Jeremy C. Fox Globe Correspondent,Updated January 27, 2021, 10:46 p.m.
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Some Belmont residents called for the town to hire a diversity director and to provide funding for local antiracist organizations during a Wednesday night Select Board meeting to discuss the killing last week of a Black and Latino man in the town, allegedly by a white man who used a racial slur.
Town officials heard from Black, Hispanic, and Asian residents about their firsthand experiences with racism during the online meeting to discuss the
White Massachusetts Man Facing Murder Charges After Shouting The N-Word and Running Over Black Man in Road Rage Altercation
Henry Tapia (Image: GoFundMe)
A white Massachusetts man is facing a murder charge after he allegedly shouted racial slurs at a Black victim before running him over and killing him. According to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, the District Attorney and Belmont Chief of Police have confirmed that the suspect has been arrested and charged in the victim’s death.
According to WCVB, Dean Kapsalis has been charged with the death of Henry Tapia, 35, of Boston, who suffered life-threatening injuries after being struck by Kapsalis’ vehicle. The two were embroiled in a road rage incident that led to an altercation between the two men.
Updated on January 25, 2021 at 1:26 pm
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A Massachusetts man who allegedly ran over another man, killing him, after shouting racial slurs during a road rage incident last week is now facing a murder charge.
The charge against Dean Kapsalis, a 54-year-old from Hudson, was added Monday morning during a court hearing. Kapsalis, accused of fatally hitting a 35-year-old Boston man with his truck and hurling racial epithets at him, also faces motor vehicle and civil rights charges.
A judge ordered Kapsalis be held without bail. A dangerous hearing for him at the court did not occur as expected.
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Henry Tapia of Boston, who was struck and killed by a vehicle last week in what is being called a hate crime, was remembered in a vigil by Community Organized for Solidarity on Jan. 21.
Hundreds gathered on Common Street in Cushing Square between Trapelo and Payson Roads holding Black Lives Matter signs and photos of Tapia, who was 35 when he was struck by a car operated by 54-year-old Dean Kapsalis of Hudson at around 4:22 p.m. on Jan. 19 on Upland Road in Belmont. Tapia was conscious when emergency workers first arrived, but he later died at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.