CINCINNATI -- Police said they were investigating Tuesday after two young girls walking home from school in Hyde Park said a man exposed himself to them Friday afternoon.
The two students, a sixth-grader and a fourth-grader, had just finished crossing guard duty outside St. Mary School on Erie Avenue when a car slowly began following them, according to an email sent to parents and obtained by WCPO.
The email said the man in that car followed the girls for two blocks before pulling over and parking. When the walked by his car, he stood up and “exposed himself,” according to the email, at which point the girls ran and hid in some nearby bushes, where they called their father.
Cincinnati Police Lt. Steve Saunders later confirmed investigators interviewed the two girls after the incident and were working to find the man in the car.
Tiffany Pickup, who lives nearby, has three daughters all less than 10 years old.
"First of all, I was thinking, 'cause they're usually outside around that time when it happened and was really concerned that we had no idea that it had taken place," she said.
Another neighbor, Jim Frey, called the man's actions "despicable."
"We're always alert," Frey said. "We keep an eye out for each other -- the neighbors are pretty good at keeping an eye out."
School officials described the suspect as a man in his late teens or early twenties with sandy blond hair. They described the car as an older, black sedan, “not in good shape.”
Police ask anyone with information in this incident call Crimestoppers at 513-352-3040.
