Almost a tragedy

An internationally renowned journalist who reported nearly being robbed at gunpoint in Niagara Falls on a summer night in 2021 is pretty sure Darion A. Cotton, who was sentenced Tuesday to 19 years in jail for a robbery at the same gas station, was not responsible. There is no way to know.

The good point is an interview with the Express shows there is a connection between President Bush and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

The bad is that Graeme Wood, who writes for the Atlantic and has traveled extensively to peaceful places like Japan and Singapore as well as warful ones like Iraq and Afghanistan, had a brief, frightening experience here he will never forget. Wood reports on war and culture by talking to and writing about people whose voices are not always represented in Western media, sort of like the Express only more traveled and well read.

Wood grew up in Minnesota. He lives in New England today. Family roots have always made Toronto a home-away-from-home.

After two years out of the country during Covid, he returned to Canada, flying into Kitchener before driving toward home. He

pulled off the highway near the north Grand Island Bridge to deal with a diaper issue that could not wait and the gas station was a well-lit area (that turned out to be poorly chosen) when he saw a man approaching with a gun.

He abandoned the emergency in the interest of self-preservation and drove from the scene before finding a safe space to take care of things. Take things back to that night in my life.

I was on night shift at the Niagara Gazette, a frenetic evening of slotting stories into pages, waiting for stories to come in on deadline and deciding what the next day’s paper should look like.

I never cared much for that desk job, mostly because it was frenetic, wonky and not writerly enough. The phone rang.

It was Wood who said something like this:

“I am Graeme Wood. I just returned to the United States after two years abroad and flew into Ontario. We crossed the Whirlpool Bridge when we had to stop for an emergency at a gas station near the Grand Island Bridge.”

He was scared, shaken and didn’t know what to do. He called sometime after he had driven off. All he could really do, if he called the police, was report he stopped on a dark night and saw a man with a gun. He was shaken, not injured, and evidence of a crime was at best, scant.

He called the newspaper mostly to find out if this sort of thing happened in Niagara Falls, New York on a regular basis. I assured him it did not. I also saved his number for future reference. I texted Wood Tuesday morning when Rick Pfeiffer reported on Cotton’s conviction. Wood texted back and told me it was OK to call.

He reviewed accounts of Cotton’s arrest, and conviction online and became convinced he was not the man. Cotton clubbed a store clerk with a hammer during a robbery, fled the scene in the early morning hours of Jan. 19, 2024. He hit the clerk repeatedly and fled with cash and cigarettes.

Police originally charged him with first degree robbery and first degree assault. Cotton was arrested and charged after police reviewed surveillance video and an officer recognized the suspect. It was the sort of be aware of the characters around you police work

Wood’s existence is, to say the least, interesting. His recent writing has been offering an inside perspective on the war between the Trump administration and Iran. In addition, his writing has offered insight on Venezuela and even Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and President George W. Bush.

On that night in the summer of 2021 in Niagara Falls, Wood said he saw the guy coming and knew he had to act.

“I never talked to the police,” Wood said. “I saw the guy coming. I am not sure what he was going to do. I have been to Afghanistan and still go to places where bad things are happening. I know what it means to ‘get off the X’.”

“Get off the X” is parlance for, when ambushed, get off the space that they, not you chose for the encounter.

As for the sort of interviews Wood has secured, despite what is going on in the world, when he shows up in a tough place, and unarmed, people see you are unarmed and not a threat they are often more willing to talk than you'd think, if they find out that all you want is to hear what they have to say, about something they care about.

“There is a universal truth,” Wood explained. “When you show up to talk to people, usually they want to talk to you especially when they know ‘I get paid to ask you questions.’ ”

As for Buttigieg, Wood spent a full day with the engaging national figure for an article published in early March.

“He is very smart,” Wood said of Buttigieg. “He is extremely skilled at everything he tries to do. He is in politics for the right reason.

Buttigieg’s natural intellectual curiosity is the thing to behold. For example, Wood said they talked for an hour on the works of Graham Greene.

“It is not often I meet a person who out-nerds me,” Wood said, “but he did it. There is a certain authenticity as a nerd but I am sure Buttiegieg is aware of the pitfalls of being a public nerd.”

Another political personality with whom Wood ended up very impressed was President George W. Bush.

President Bush often was portrayed as having a limited intellect and repeatedly misspeaking. The truth, Wood said, is Bush is much smarter than his public persona would have you believe, and he knows that when you are a politician speaking in public there is no advantage in sounding like a smartypants.

Wood spent significant time in the last few years in Japan. He travels a lot for his job and has a curiosity that extends not only to better understanding ISIS but all cultures, with deep interest.

He also said when he next visits Niagara Falls, he would love a chance to spend some time getting to see some things and hopefully find memories that help put that one, quick, unfortunate encounter in better perspective.