SPOKANE — Much as Spokane-area residents may be sick of snow after one of the city’s whitest winters on record, police were happy to have a new dusting early Sunday.

According to a news release, police gave chase to a car that had been reported stolen, then backed off early Sunday because of the slick roads but were still able to follow the tracks in fresh snow.

The car was found abandoned in Spokane’s South Hill neighborhood, and officers then followed footprints in the snow for more than a mile.

They arrested 28-year-old John D. Rovik and caught a woman believed to be a passenger in the car after tracking shoe prints for another half-mile. Both have been jailed for investigation of possession of a stolen vehicle and other felonies.