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Three Worcester Students Grabbed While Walking To School

WORCESTER (CBS) -- Police are searching for a man who allegedly assaulted three teenage girls as they were walking to school Wednesday morning.

One of the three girls, a student at South High School in Worcester, told police the man ran up behind her and grabbed her around 7:30 a.m. on Apricot Street Wednesday. She reported that he fled after she resisted.

A short time later, another girl was approached.

Then, at 8:15 a.m., a 14-year-old Sullivan Middle School student reported that a man who police believe was the same suspect as in the earlier incidents stopped her and told her, "You're coming with me." The girl told police she refused, and the man grabbed her. She said she punched him several times, and he ran away into a nearby wooded area.

Police described the suspect as a white male estimated to be in his 50's, skinny and short with a white mustache.

"They did the right thing," Worcester Police Sgt. Kerry Hazelhurst said. "They fought back and he fled."

Worcester Public Schools used automated phone calls to alert students' parents to the incidents. Worcester Police said they put extra officers in place during school arrival and dismissal times.

Worcester Police are asking anyone with information about the incidents to contact them.

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