The Slice Able To Stop Rolling Cars With Just A Touch - It’s Spokane Man!

It was midday and Steve Reiter was walking along in downtown, minding his own business, when something unexpected happened.

An unattended car parked in front of the Washington Trust Bank on Sprague inexplicably started to roll into the busy intersection with Post Street.

So the project director for the American Association of Retired Persons did the only thing he could think of. He jumped in front of the slowly rolling compact and tried to stop it. The scene was reminiscent of the moment in the movie “Risky Business” when Tom Cruise struggles to keep a Porsche from rolling off a dock and into a lake.

But Reiter succeeded. And soon others arrived to help. The unoccupied car, which had advanced several yards, was pushed back. One guy discovered the passenger-side door was open. He was able to reach in and pull the emergency brake.

The impromptu accidentprevention team exchanged nods. And then Reiter continued on his way.

True North: KSPS-TV, a station that knows who butters its bread, celebrates Canada Day with a special lineup of appropriately themed programs tonight, starting at 8.

Trend alert: According to The Detroit News, malls in the Midwest are starting to offer a third kind of restroom. They’re family rooms, specifically for young children in the company of an opposite-sex parent. Some feature fixtures at kid-level.

English as a second language: Instructors at Spokane Falls Community College are still chuckling about the student who wanted to express her strongest “sediments” about an issue.

Warm-up questions: What’s the most unusual choice of music you’ve heard during a viewing at a funeral home? Without looking at a map, how many Canadian provinces can you name?

Today’s Slice question: Who is the most typical woman in Spokane?

, DataTimes MEMO: The Slice appears Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; fax (509) 459-5098.