Updated - Monday, 3/17 - 6:30 AM:
Prosecutor Todd Dombrowski said it appears Bah wasn't involved in the dispute. "Based on the information that I have with me today ... [Bah] was not part of that altercation," he said. But a witness and friend of Dalof said Sunday he still thinks Bah targeted the victim and that the accident was linked to the dispute. The driver appeared to accelerate as he approached Dalof, who had just defended a woman from thugs outside the Pumping Company bar near Broadway and Devon, said the witness. Court documents say Bah, of the 1400 block of West Farwell, told police he smoked marijuana and drank five Hennesseys after he got off work from his delivery job at Sam's Deli, 1102 W. Granville. Dalof, 26, was with friends at the bar Saturday. Source.Updated - 3:30 PM:
Boubacar Bah had been drinking and smoking marijuana at a friend's house after work on Friday, authorities said, when, on his way home, he struck and killed Thomas Dalof, 26, on the 6200 block of North Lakewood Avenue. Dalof had been out at a bar with friends celebrating his recent acceptance into the Chicago Fire Department academy. He was trying to get into his friend's car when he was struck, Assistant State's Attorney Todd Dombrowski said. Source.Emails... I get emails. Sent to me from a reader. This also was published in the comments section yesterday.
Craig, these are related stories - one from the Trib, one the Suntimes.
CHICAGO — Chicago police say a 24-year-old man faces charges in connection with the fatal hit-and-run of a man who had just rescued a woman from two men who were kicking her. Officers said Boubacar Bah was charged early Sunday with reckless homicide and leaving the scene of an accident. He had earlier turned himself in to officers who were searching for the driver who struck and killed 26-year-old Thomas Dalof in the far North Side's Rogers Park neighborhood early Saturday morning. Source.The driver lives somewhere in CAPS Beat 2431 in the 1400 block of West Farwell.
* Boubacar Bah, of the 1400 block of West Farwell Avenue, was charged early Sunday with reckless homicide and leaving the scene of an accident. At about 1:50 a.m. Saturday, Thomas Dalof, 26, of the 5600 block of North Campbell Avenue was walking in the 6200 block of North Lakewood Avenue when he was struck by a 1994 Buick Skylark that ran a stop sign, said Police Officer Laura Kubiak. Source.Witnesses say this was deliberate. According to his friends, Thomas was actually trying to help save a girl.
* "It was murder. I saw the car blow through a stop sign and accelerate deliberately and even steer toward our direction to purposely hit us. I yelled, 'Tom, get out of the way!' I looked back and my friend was in the air, tumbling over the hood of the car." Source.
The Bench reports the driver was a undocumented immigrant from Africa.
Rogers Park, Chicago - March 16, 2008 - An undocumented immigrant from Africa deliberately ran down a man in the 6200 block of N. Lakewood early this morning. Neighbors in the block tell The Bench that the victim was decapitated when struck in an adjacent alley. These photos by The Bench show the scene of the murder. Source.photo courtesy
15 comments:
The Chicago Tribune wrote that the incident took place in Edgewater, but the defendant Boubacar is from the 1400 block of Farwell.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-080316hitrun-edgewater-story,0,3539369.story
WBEZ reported this morning on the radio that Thomas Dalof was just accepted into the Stagehands Union.
From WBBM:
http://www.wbbm780.com/UPDATE:-Car-Located--Victim-Identified-in-Fatal-Ro/1830361
CHICAGO --Thomas Dalof, 26, a pedestrian crossing a Rogers Park street is dead after a hit-and-run driver struck him and did not stop Saturday, according to police.
The car was located early Saturday, but police are still searching for the driver.
The accident happened about 1:55 a.m. at 6203 N. Lakewood Ave.
Dalof, of 5648 N. Campbell Ave. was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston where he was pronounced dead at 2:28 a.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner.
The car was found in an alley on the 1300 block of West Granville Avenue, not far from the area of the hit-and-run. The Major Accident Investigation Unit is in charge of the case.
Finally, remember, people don't kill people, cars kill people. Ban pollution, curb cars. Bike to to bar laws are long overdue! [smirk]
Calling all CAPS Beat 2431 residents. All 20 of you.
I'm putting a bounty on Boubacar. $100 bucks for this assholes capture. Proof of capture required.
Boubacar has turned himself in.
I agree with lafew, if people want to imbibe in alcohol, the legal drug, they should find alternative transportation methods.
The designated driver idea sounds good, but that driver might be bored to tears after about 30 minutes in a lively bar. He/she would either have a drink to join the herd or go home and watch a good movie. There are ample cabs in the city.
Such a terrible incident.
The Bench calls him an undocumented immigrant? How about calling him what he is, an illegal alien!
Well one term we should all be able to agree on for this guy is "asshole".
I expect he will be a long term resident of our state for many years. Then he can be departed to whatever hellhole of a country he came from.
Let's see him run into some guy with a donkey next time.
If you want to come to this country obey the laws. Particularly if you break a law getting here in the first place. We have enough home grown assholes in this nation so that we don't need to import assholes.
The Statue of Liberty should add an addendum to her plaque "oh and by the way, no assholes."
A careful read of the Mannis park bench suggests a dubious unidentified source for second hand slander or speculation. We, including Mannis, should not rely upon people who will label anyone with a foreign sounding name as illegal or undocumented after a crime is committed unless DHS Agents ICE-ed him with a Q&A at 26th & Cal.
The accused could have been named Henry Jones and no one would think twice of labelling him as foreign or illegal. Yet, there are a few Jamaican Joneses. I am sure that most of them are law abiding and polite.
The facts are that 'the Boob' and his buddies acted like jackasses and foolishly killed Dalof. Now, Boob is paying the price. What about the buddies?
The Mannis hearsay source sounded like unreliable rambling from a disappointed neighbor. Perhaps, one who wanted to inject one more xenophobic rumor into the mix.
Unfortunately, Mr. Mannis has made himself 'appear' like a xenophobe willing to rush to judgment. Why blame this crime on the undocumented without verification? Angst and misdirection? No hard feelings, Mannis, just admit your source seems lame on the alienage issue barring a credible admission from the Bouba-meister.
In a densely populated area, you find all types. Some Nice, some nasty. Some Nigerian, some North Dakotan. I don't know why Dalof ran away from the safety of his friend's car. That was a mistake! Hindsight is always 20/20, isn't it?
What do we learn? (1) Heat of passion crimes are unnecessary and need to be defused. (2)Showing your buddies that you won't take crap from an opinionated woman is unwise. (3) If someone catches you doing brain dead stuff while you are drunk, then wake up and walk away. (4) It is not wise to practice sprinting for the Fireman's test, while being chased by an angry Boob in a Buick.
(5) Chasing down someone who wants to be a hero is best done on a video game. (6) The consequences of emotional and shortsighted acts never change.
One count is voluntary manslaughter provided the States Attorney has the evidence to indict. I hope that Bah's cheering section also gets indicted, as well. As far as Bah's immigration status; well, if he is not a naturalized U.S. Citizen, then he may have few options upon his release from IDOC.
Lafew said...> " I hope that Bah's cheering section also gets indicted..."
You're right. Boubacar has a few friends that need to be rounded up too.
What a tragedy.
Seems that hit-and-run accidents are becoming more common. I have personally witnessed two pedestrian collisions in which the driver just tore away without stopping, uncaring as to whether his victim survived or was badly injured.
Used to be that the punishment for leaving the scene of an accident was pretty severe, especially if there were fatalities. This perp should be looking at the maximum allowable penalty for this.
I was - personally - nearly hit by a white van while crossing sheridan road. The light turned green, I walked west across sheridan at a crosswalk. A white van (facing east) made an abrupt left turn aimed right at me. I was quick enough to run out of the way and shout some profanities at the driver who then slowed down and just gave me a dazed stare as he continued through. If I had been walking in the opposite direction, I never would have seen the van coming.
Craig, everyone is repeating the mistake that the Sun-Times made.
This happened in Edgewater, not Rogers Park.
The Trib got it correct, so why do we in RP have to get tarred for what happens south of Devon?
There are enough problems in RP without having this crap dumped on us!
I have narrowly escaped being struck many times and only hope my luck holds.
Was recently crossing Sheridan at Foster, on the green light as I always do, when the light begin to flash Don't Walk as I was halfway across. The car at the white line lurched forward as I was crossing in front of it, and I barely made it to the curb before the light turned red against me.
Now, I have always understood that you must wait for crossing pedestrians to clear the intersection before you proceed on green. You are not, last I heard, allowed to run someone down because the light caught her halfway across the intersection. Has the law changed? Am I now at fault because I wasn't walking quite fast enough to make it across on the green? Because an onlooker told me, "that was your fault, you had the red light," even though it had just changed.
Do not EVER start to cross if the "don't walk" is starting to flash, and don't trust that people will stop for you to use a crosswalk that is at an unguarded intersection. Pedestrians have no rights anymore-cars come first.
Thankfully, lights have been installed at Glenlake and Elmdale at Broadway- two intersections at which I have witnessed pedestrians struck, but don't take it for granted that someone turning right as you cross on the green will wait for you to clear before he lurches around the corner, and don't trust that people will stop at the white line just because you are crossing on the green. If someone is approaching the intersection at a speed that suggests he isn't stopping, trust your gut, he isn't.
Dear sock Puppet:
Didn't you know that there is a secret plot in Edgewater to pay off every reporter and cop to say all accidents on Devon are in Rogers Park. We paid the Tribune big bucks man, big bucks, to say RP and they said Edgewater, damn.
regarding you almost getting hit, north coast, it is not surprising that you barely made it across, considering you have to almost sprint to be able to make it to the next side before the light changes - the green for pedestrians, esp, is just too damn short. I don't know how quickly they expect people to be able to walk, but I know that most normal people would not be able to get across in time. It's not fair to pedestrians at all. Yet another way that RP is not pedestrian friendly.
V&J, the whole U.S. is VERY pedestrian-hostile, and trying to cross a street on foot in the outer suburbs is somewhat akin to sprinting across an interstate.
Which is no excuse for the hazards confronting pedestrians in the city. I have timed many intersections on my watch, to figure out that there is no way someone old or heavily encumbered can make it across. 6-corner intersections are frightful- when I lived in Lakeview, I fired off many letters and calls to the 44th Ward alderman about the Clark/Halstead deathtrap, where I easily determined that an elder could not conceivably make it more than halfway across the street on the light. Nothing has ever been done about this dangerous intersection. I guess not enough people have been killed there to warrant dropping the speed limit by 5 MPH, or making the light longer.
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