By Maureen O'Donnell
The Chicago Sun-Times

CHICAGO — The man accused of striking Thomas E. Dalof with his car minutes after Dalof reportedly rescued a woman from some thugs apparently was not involved in a dispute with Dalof, according to information released in court Sunday.

Judge Don Panarese set bail at $2 million for Boubacar Bah, 24, who is accused of plowing his car into Dalof, killing him, minutes after Dalof and a friend came to the woman's aid.

Bah was charged with reckless homicide and leaving the scene of an accident.

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.

Bah, who is from Guinea in west Africa, has been a legal resident of Chicago for six years. He is scheduled to appear in court again today.