A White motorist who struck and killed a Black Boston man in a racially motivated road rage incident was convicted Monday (May 1) of second-degree murder and now faces a possible life sentence, Boston.com reported.

Dean Kapsalis, 56, pelted racial slurs at Henry Tapia on Jan. 19, 2021 in Belmont, Mass., when their dispute over a turn signal escalated into a confrontation, ending with Kapsalis hitting Tapia with his pickup truck and fleeing the scene.

Belmont Police Chief James MacIsaac said witnesses tried to aid Tapia, 34, while another motorist at the scene chased Kapsalis to get his license plate information. But Tapia, a father of three children, died from his injuries at Massachusetts General Hospital.

“We should make no mistake: This was a racially motivated, senseless tragedy,” Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said Monday at a press conference, according to Boston.com, adding that Tapia lay in the street dying after hearing “words that were meant to intimidate and threaten him because of who he was, a person of color.”

Kapsalis was also found guilty of a violation of constitutional rights causing serious bodily injury, assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, and leaving the scene after causing injury, Ryan said.

He’s scheduled for sentencing on June 27. Although sentencing rules permit the judge to set a parole eligibility date, Kapsalis’ second-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence.