Mackenzie and Ethan Behrens, 14 and 12, texted police in southern Nebraska after their father allegedly began driving drunk. 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. KEARNEY, Nebraska (WKBN) – A man was arrested Wednesday for drunk driving with his kids in the car, and it was not the first time. (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. 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. "It was hard, but he had pushed us to the point that we had to," Ethan said. Now the kids want to send a message to 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. 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.
– 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.