(STORY IMAGE:KHQ.COM)
SPOKANE, Wash. -Denis Bruis and his 10-year-old daughter Jocelyn were walking to catch a bus to go see a movie in downtown Spokane to escape the heat “My daughter was looking at me, and we were talking, and just out of the corner of my eye I see that there's a huge hole right where she's getting to step," said Denis.
Denis's dad instincts kicked in. He shot out his cane as a roadblock. Checking his daughter before she could have taken a tumble down the 9-foot hole "I was honestly pretty scared when I saw it. I could have broken a bone," said Jocelyn.
After the adrenaline wore off, Denis called me about the hazard. It was still uncovered when I got there a half-hour late, and it remained a threat over the next several hours as I scrambled to find out who was responsible.
We called multiple agencies from the county and the Washington Department of Transportation trying to figure out who needed to fix it. Finally, we received an email from the City of Spokane saying they were on the case and we're going to fix the problem.
Denis is breathing a sigh of relief “She's got a month of vacation let, and I don't want to see her sitting on the couch with a cast because of someone’s poor choice."
The City of Spokane tells KHQ that the Washington Department of Transportation is the agency that owns the land and will be blocking it off and securing the manhole cover.