Suspect wanted after grabbing, hugging 11-year-old girl: police

Search for suspect in child assault Winnipeg police are searching for a man who they say assaulted an 11-year-old girl on Tuesday.

Police are looking for an unknown suspect who grabbed and hugged an 11-year-old girl after asking her for directions in Winnipeg.

Winnipeg police said around 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday, the girl had been walking on Westmount Drive between Maywood Road and Paterson Street. Police said a man came up to her and asked for directions, but then grabbed and hugged the girl before she could escape.

Winnipeg police got the report of the suspicious person later that day.

Police said a passing driver saw what happened and stopped to check on the girl before searching for the suspect. The driver soon found the man and took pictures of him walking near Westmount Drive and Cottonwood Road. He was last seen walking north on Northumbria Bay from Cottonwood Drive.

Police describe him as being Indigenous in appearance, between 35 and 40 years old. He is between six-foot-two and six-foot-four, with a lean build and a rounded nose. Police said he had been wearing gold-coloured glasses (with wired frames), a blue/grey jacket, dark navy blue or black cargo pants, black shoes, and a grey, black and white backpack with a camouflage pattern.

The Child Abuse Unit is investigating, and is asking anyone with information to call investigators at 204-986-3296 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-8477.