Police detectives continued their search this week for a man who attempted to kidnap two women in separate incidents in Hyde Park.

The first incident occurred January 18 around 9:45 p.m. near East 55th Street and South Kimbark Avenue. A man approached a woman walking alone and asked her for the time in an attempt to start a conversation. According to police reports, she became uncomfortable and fled. The man tried to chase her, but he gave up and returned to a green Mercury Villager minivan with tinted windows.

The second incident occurred January 25 at 11:10 p.m near East 54th Street and South Harper Avenue. The suspect forced a woman into a van of the same description at knife-point. He then drove west on East 55th Street. The victim fought with the offender in an attempt to free herself; and as the van neared Cottage Grove Avenue, the woman escaped. She was treated for injuries at the University of Chicago Hospitals.

Police report that both victims described the man as a 30- to 40-year-old black man around 5-foot-6 and 160 pounds.