Paramedics take photos of 38 unconscious patients as part of ‘selfie war’

Two paramedics reportedly challenged each other to a “selfie war.”

But instead of weird faces or exotic locations, the subjects of this selfie war were patients in ambulances, nearly all of them unconscious.

The challenge was between Kayla Renee Dubois, 24, and Christopher Wimmer, 33, in Okaloosa, Florida. The two would take videos and photos of themselves with patients who were “intubated, sedated, or otherwise unconscious at the time,” according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.

A total of 41 patients were identified in the selfies, but three were with consenting patients. Two of the 38 unconscious patients have died.

The remaining 36 included 19 women and 17 men, between ages 24 and 86, and five of them are homeless.

One of Wimmer’s selfies include an elderly woman with her breast exposed.

Emergency services were told about the selfie war by other paramedics who the photos were shared with and the sheriff’s office started an investigation in May, which “revealed the defendants exchanged texts challenging each other to produce more selfies and to ‘step up’ their game.”

Dubois was fired in May and Wimmer resigned. Now the two face criminal charges for their selfie war.

Dubois was arrested Thursday and is charged two counts of interception and disclosure of oral communications, a third degree felony. Wimmer said he would turn himself in Thursday and faces seven counts of the same charge, along with a misdemeanor battery charge for holding an unconscious patient’s eyelid open in one of the selfies.

This story was originally published July 22, 2016 at 9:35 AM with the headline "Paramedics take photos of 38 unconscious patients as part of ‘selfie war’."