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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Ebel VNP tasing video making splash on YouTube

David Colburn
Posted 5/24/23

REGIONAL- Outside of the Timberjay’s ongoing coverage since last summer, regional media outlets have shown little interest in the tasing of Ash River houseboat owner Justin Ebel by Voyageurs …

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Ebel VNP tasing video making splash on YouTube

Posted

REGIONAL- Outside of the Timberjay’s ongoing coverage since last summer, regional media outlets have shown little interest in the tasing of Ash River houseboat owner Justin Ebel by Voyageurs National Park enforcement rangers.
But now a ranger’s body cam video released in response to a Freedom of Information request filed by the Timberjay is making a splash online in a YouTube video posted by the Audit Archive channel.
The body cam footage, accompanied by a narrative voiceover, was posted Tuesday and had racked up over 60,000 views and over 700 mostly negative comments by Wednesday morning, 21 hours after its posting.
The Timberjay became aware of the video, titled “Cops Tase INNOCENT Boat Driver, Then This Happens,” through an email received early Wednesday morning from a Robert Quinlan, who in addition to a link to the video wrote the following note:
“Dear Sir/Madam – I will not travel to your area based upon law enforcement activity seen on YouTube. My tourism dollars will be spent elsewhere.”
Quinlan’s sentiment is echoed in many of the negative comments posted to the video.
Audit Archive, created in 2022, is similar to a number of other YouTube channels that highlight law enforcement misconduct.
“We bring you the latest police audits to shed light on police injustices and promote awareness of your rights as a law-abiding citizen,” says the channel’s description. “Our mission is to educate and empower you with the knowledge to hold law enforcement accountable for their actions. We will bring you real-life footage and expert commentary to provide a comprehensive understanding of our police audits.”
The channel has 15.7 thousand subscribers. Views of the Ebel video are on pace to quadruple that in the first 24 hours.