Early in the evening of September 12, 1986, Cst. Régis Bonneau risked his life to defuse a dangerous situation. Two masked men, one of whom was armed with a sawed-off shotgun, had gone into a grocery store in Chicoutimi, Quebec, intending to commit a hold-up. A woman who saw the robbers enter the store alerted Cst. Bonneau and pointed out their getaway vehicle. Although not on duty the Cst. immediately went to the suspects' van, which was still running, turned off the ignition, took the keys and concealed himself behind another vehicle to await the robbers' return. A few minutes later the two men jumped into their van but quickly got out again when they saw that the keys were missing. From his hiding place Cst. Bonneau, who was still alone and unarmed, shouted to the men to put up their hands. He then tried to take away the driver's gun but the latter resisted and a struggle ensued. The second criminal, noticing that the constable was not armed, told his accomplice this and came to his assistance. In the course of the struggle Cst. Bonneau managed to show his police badge and remove the mask of one of the robbers, who then fled. The other continued struggling and then tried to get away too, but was overpowered by three men who had come running to help. Unable to catch up with the first robber on foot, Cst. Bonneau got into a Chicoutimi municipal police patrol car which had arrived on the scene. Shortly thereafter the man who had fled was identified by Cst. Bonneau and arrested.