Long Island Teen Charged in Roommate's Hammer Death Killed in Car Crash

GLENWOOD LANDING, N.Y. - A Long Island teen who was facing charges for allegedly beating his roommate to death with hammer last year was killed in a crash in Glenwood Landing Friday morning, police said.

The fatal crash occurred around 5 a.m. According to police, Quentin Capobianco, 19, was driving a 2011 Volkswagen Tiguan north on Shore Road when it began to slide across both the northbound and southbound lanes. The SUV struck a utility pole before coming to a stop with a part of the pole on the hood of the Tiguan, police said.

Capobianco was pronounced dead at the scene. A 20-year-old female passenger was taken to the hospital for non-life threatening injuries.

The crash investigation is ongoing, police said.

Capobianco was arrested last year after police say he killed his roommate, 29-year-old attorney Jesse Smith, in an apartment they shared in Queens. Capobianco told police that Smith tried to force him at gunpoint to liquidate his stocks, the New York Post reported.

Capobianco said Smith tied him up with duct tape and zip ties, but he was able to escape and grab a hammer.

But prosecutors said it wasn't self-defense. Capobianco was indicted by a grand jury on charges of manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon. He was free on $250,000 bond at the time of the crash and was due back in court on April 13.

Capobianco and Smith reportedly ran a currency exchange business centered around the online currency Bitcoin.