Police say they're looking for a man suspected of grabbing an 11-year-old girl in southeast Winnipeg on Tuesday after he approached her to ask for directions.

The girl was walking on Westmount Drive, between Maywood Road and Paterson Street in the city's Windsor Park neighbourhood, around 12:45 p.m. when a man approached her, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a Wednesday news release.

The man grabbed and hugged the girl before she broke free, according to police. Someone who was driving by and saw the struggle unfold checked on the girl before looking for the man involved, the release said.

The driver soon found the man walking nearby, close to the intersection of Westmount Drive and Cottonwood Road. He confronted the man and took two pictures of him, which police shared on Wednesday. Both show the back of a person walking down a sidewalk.

The man suspected in the incident was last seen walking northbound on Northumbria Bay from Cottonwood Drive, the release said.

He's described as somewhere in the range of 35 to 40 years old and between six foot two and six foot four. He has a lean build and a rounded nose, police said.

The man was wearing gold glasses with wired frames, a blue/grey jacket, dark navy or black cargo pants, black shoes, and a grey, black and white camouflage backpack, the release said.

Police ask anyone with information about the incident to call child abuse unit investigators at 204-986-3296 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786-8477.