text: KEARNEY, Nebraska (WKBN) – A man was arrested Wednesday for drunk driving with his kids in the car, and it was not the first time. 
   
   Jason Behrens took his kids on vacation and drove through Kearney, Nebraska. 
   
   The children became nervous when they noticed the car swerving and making a lot of close calls. 
   
   After nearly getting into a head on collision, they started sending texts to 911. 
   
   Kearney Police caught up with the family at a Burger King and arrested Behrens. 
   
   The children have a message for the officers. 
   
   “I just want to thank them,” 14-year-old Mackenzie Behrens said. 
   
   “Because they, really, really, really saved our lives,” 12-year-old Ethan Behrens said. 
   
   Jason Behrens blew three times the legal limit when arrested. He is charged with DUI and two counts of driving drunk with minors in the vehicle. ||||| Two kids sent text messages to police, turning in their own drunken father, Jason Behrens. Just before Easter weekend, Buffalo County dispatch received a 911 text alert about a suspected dad driving drunk while children sat in the back seat. 
   
   The kids said it was the scariest moment of their lives. 
   
   "When a car passed, you could hear how close it was, you could hear the metal," said 12-year-old Ethan Behrens. 
   
   The two frightened kids were heading to Colorado for vacation with their dad behind the wheel. 
   
   "We told him many times, we don't want to go anymore because you are really drunk and I don't want to die," said 14-year-old Mackenzie Behrens. 
   
   Both kids said this wasn't the first time their dad was driving drunk while they were in the car. 
   
   "I think this last time they were scared enough that they had no other choice," said Amy Brooks, the kids’ mother. 
   
   "The next time he swerves, send the text,” Ethan said to Mackenzie. “And he swerved again so I pushed send," said Mackenzie. 
   
   They sent Kearney Police on a hunt to find the rental car they were in before they would embark onto the interstate. 
   
   "I was like, 'I can drive better than this,'” Mackenzie said. “He said, 'then fine, I can pull over and you can drive.' And I said, 'I'm not legal, if I was legal I would.'" 
   
   The kids described almost hitting another car head on and said they continued to beg him to pull over. 
   
   "He's like, 'I'm not drunk.' And then he kept on driving and that’s the point I got really, really scared and I just started praying a lot," Ethan said. 
   
   The kids say it was their idea to pull over at Burger King to stop and get something to eat. That's when officers caught up with them. 
   
   "He looked back at us and said, ‘you've been texting the cops?’ And I was like, 'yeah, I thought I was going to die,'" Ethan explained. 
   
   "And he had something in his cup when the officers checked it," Mackenzie added. 
   
   "I was very angry, but it was kind of a bittersweet moment to where the better part is that they are safe now that I came and picked them up, the other part is finally people will know and maybe listen to me," Brooks said. 
   
   That day, Jason Behrens blew nearly three times the legal limit. The kids said if they could go back they would do the same. 
   
   "It was hard, but he had pushed us to the point that we had to," Ethan said. 
   
   "I lost trust in him," Mackenzie said. 
   
   Now the kids want to send a message to the officers. 
   
   "I just want to thank them,” Mackenzie said. 
   
   “Because they really, really saved our lives," Ethan said. 
   
   The children are in the care of their mom for the time being. 
   
   "I'll forever keep them safe," Brooks said. 
   
   A friend of Brooks has more information about the situation at https://www.gofundme.com/7cxqter8 . 
   
   NTV News reached out to Jason Behrens, but he has yet to return the phone call. 
   
   Buffalo County is one of just two counties in the state to have Text 911. It's been a little over a year since the program launched. ||||| Two Nebraska children texted 911 to stop their father from allegedly drunk driving after being scared for their lives during a road trip swerving down the road. 
   
   Mackenzie and Ethan Behrens, 14 and 12, were riding along in Kearney toward a vacation in Colorado when they began sending fearful messages to police. 
   
   Mackenzie and Ethan Behrens, 14 and 12, texted police in southern Nebraska after their father allegedly began driving drunk. (NTV Nebraska News/ABC) 
   
   The kids also asked their dad, 44-year-old Jason Behrens, to pull over at a Burger King so officers could catch up to their rental car, according to NTV. 
   
   Jason Behrens, 44, reportedly blew almost three times Nebraska's legal driving limit of 0.08%. (Kearney Police Department) 
   
   They said that the most recent episode riding along with the impaired driver was not their first, but that near-scrapes with other cars led them to reach out for help. 
   
   The suspect told his children that he was not drunk, though blew nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08% during a breathalyzer test after his arrest. 
   
   Though the scare happened before Easter, the children recently opened up about their experience and thanked police officers for saving their lives. 
   
   “It was hard, but he had pushed us to the point that we had to,” Ethan said. 
   
   Texting 911 began last year in Buffalo County, Neb., and select municipalities and counties across the country have begun recently begun rolling it out as an option for reaching help for emergencies.
target: – Two Nebraska children may have saved their own lives and the lives of others when they texted 911 from inside their allegedly drunk father's car, WKBN reports. Fourteen-year-old Mackenzie and 12-year-old Ethan were driving through Nebraska with their 44-year-old dad, Jason Behrens, on the way to a vacation in Colorado. But they say Behrens was drunk, swerving all over the road and nearly crashing. "When a car passed, you could hear how close it was, you could hear the metal," Ethan tells NTV. "I got really, really scared, and I just started praying a lot." Mackenzie says they had told their father multiple times they didn't want to go with him because he was "really drunk" and they didn't "want to die." The children say they begged Behrens to pull over, but he ignored them. Then, after barely escaping a head-on collision, they started texting 911. Fortunately, they were in one of only two Nebraska counties that allow people to do that. They convinced Behrens to stop at a Burger King, and police caught up with them there. Police say Behrens was three times over the legal limit, and he was arrested. Ethan and Mackenzie say it was hard to call the police on their dad, but they had no choice, and this wasn't the first time he's driven drunk with them. The New York Daily News reports the incident happened last month, but the kids are speaking out now to thank police. "They, really, really, really saved our lives,” Ethan tells WKBN.