BOSTON -- A 21-year-old Newton man who was arrested and charged with smashing car windshields with a belt last week was released on bail and then involved in a head-on fatal crash, police said.

Evan Hoffman, 21, of 16 Southwick Road, was arrested at about 3 a.m. on June 26 after a Boston University employee reported two men smashing windshields and kicking cars on Beacon Street, Wicked Local Newton reported.

Hoffman was charged with disorderly conduct and three counts of malicious destruction of property after three cars were found with smashed windshields and witnesses identified Hoffman as a vandal, police said, but a bail bondsman bailed Hoffman out about 5 a.m., according to BU spokesman Colin Riley.

Bail was $40.

Hoffman was released on foot, but shortly after 6 a.m., police said, his Jeep crossed the center line on Beacon Street and hit a minivan head on. Jose Puzul-Peres, 43, of Chelsea, was killed.

Hoffman was released to his parents at the scene and was not charged in the crash.

Hoffman had just been released from probation and regained use of his driver’s license on June 24, following a year-long suspension after he was found guilty of drunken driving in 2008, according to Wicked Local Newton.

In that accident, the paper reported, Hoffman flipped his mother’s Volkswagen on Quinobequin Road and left the scene, heading home before his mother drove him to the hospital.