Can't get Key to release

Hey guy's... I'm new here... my wife has a 2001 Prism, and the other day we had a fight and I was driving. When we parked I "slammed" the tranny into park... and now can't get the ignition to release the key. I can get it to come out if I pull the battery terminals off, which makes me think it has to be some sort of electonic switch that maybe I busted open when I shoved it into park. Anyone every hear of this before?
Thanks for your help.
~Test

Neverming guys, I figured it out... problem was on most modern transmissions there is an electical switch that tells the ignition cylinder when the transmission is in park, and that it's then ok to release the key.
Well when I forcefully put the car in park I must have moved the contact point for the switch up just a hair, so that when the car was NOW in park the switch didn't touch, so the ingition system didn't realize it was in park.
SO by the very scientific process of reverse breakage (I slammed the car into L1) I managed to fix the problem.
Thanks anyway though
~Test