A hose was connected to the exhaust pipe and routed inside the auto.
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A family member notified police after allegedly interrupting what police called a suicide attempt.
In his initial comments to police, Ernst is said to have engineered the scenario as a “cry for help” to address his addiction issues, and said he was not trying to harm himself or his children.
Family members told police Ernst had made several vague suicidal statements to family members in the past.
Police say a family member found Ernst and his two boys sitting inside a running vehicle in a closed garage.
Jay Ernst could be charged as soon as Friday, investigators are recommending two counts of attempted homicide.
KSTP reports that Ernst and his wife are separated but the father has full custody of the children.
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Burnsville police found them a short time later and the father was arrested. The incident was reported at 1:45 a.m. Ernst was stopped by Burnsville police near Interstate 35E southbound and Dakota County Road 42 before 4:15 a.m. This was the second Amber Alert in the Twin Cities in the past week. She said Ernst had “reached his breaking point”. By the time police arrived, Ernst had driven away with the boys inside. He said he felt the only way he would be able to get chemical dependency treatment was for him to do something so extreme that police would assist him in getting into a treatment program, according to the complaint.
