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In the new Denzel Washington movie, "Hurricane" – the real-life saga of boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and his wrongful conviction and prison sentence for a triple murder he didn't commit – barely a minute of screen time is devoted to the character played by actor Garland Whitt. In his hit ballad about the controversial case, Bob Dylan didn't even mention the man.
But John Artis – who was a 19-year-old former high school track star riding in Carter's automobile that summer night in 1966, when Paterson, N.J., police pulled them over on suspicion of murder – suffered just as much as his famous co-defendant.
"I was in state prison for 15 years, was released in December 1981, and then spent another six years on parole," the 53-year-old Artis told us this morning from his home in Virginia's Hampton Roads area, where he counsels youths at a detention center in Norfolk. "I was taking a year off after graduating from high school, killing time, trying to get over the death of my mother. She was only 44. We were extremely close. I was a hurdler at Paterson Central High School, and my track coach had arranged for a track scholarship at Adams State College in Colorado."
As dramatized in the movie, which opens tomorrow, Artis's bright future evaporated after he ran into Carter at a nightclub and made the fateful decision of asking the boxer for a lift home. After two racially charged trials, the first one declared a mistrial, he was convicted of killing three white people at the Lafayette Bar and Grill in Paterson. He was sentenced to three concurrent life terms, but was a model prisoner and released early. In 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a federal court ruling that voided his conviction, along with Carter's, and blamed the police and prosecutors for "grave constitutional violations," including mishandling evidence and witnesses.
Artis said he never thought of suing the state of New Jersey for wrongful arrest and prosecution. "I never collected anything, no money, nothing," he told us. "I've never even had an apology. I was simply elated to have the case thrown out."
Today Artis – who remains close friends with Carter and spent his birthday last October visiting the boxer in Toronto – is happy that "Hurricane" is coming out and announcing their innocence to millions of moviegoers.
"It is intense and it portrays a lot of the stuff that did occur," he said of the film, which he saw as a VIP guest at the recent Los Angeles premiere. "I've gotten to know Denzeland he's a great guy. My favorite aunt Mary asked me to get his autograph and he's called her up."
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