Daniel Côté, who was traveling to Saint-Malo, a town twinned with Gaspé, said he was working when a loud and visibly disturbed man entered the car and sat down behind him.
Things went wrong when the controller passed. I heard a noise. The passenger had grabbed the controller by the neck and was beating him up
reports Daniel Côté.
The mayor of Gaspé, who is also a judo fan and a volunteer firefighter, did not hesitate. Nobody reacted and it was stronger than me. I don’t know if it’s because of my duties as a firefighter, but I overpowered the rambunctious passenger to save the controller from his grasp.
Everything happened so fast. It’s a matter of seconds, it’s a matter of adrenaline
comments Daniel Côté. I do not know what force I was able to deploy to control the gentleman, my intervention may have lasted 5 seconds or 10 seconds at most. The next day, I was ragged like I had done a marathon.
« Helping people is intrinsic to me. »
It was a journalist from Ouest-France who was informed of the incident which made it an article noticed by the Quebec press. The mayor did not want his gesture to arouse interest. Honestly, I really didn’t want that to be known. I think I just did my civic duty. It is a civic duty.
The mayor is not in France to exercise his talents as a judoka, but to establish links within the framework of a twinning agreement between the cities of France and that of the Belle Province.
Gaspé and Saint-Malo have already signed such an agreement that Daniel Côté wishes to strengthen.
