An Uber driver in Pittsburgh has been charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment after he tried to lock two female passengers in his car and told them, “You’re not going anywhere,” the police said.

The women told the police that around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, the driver picked them up, remarked on their looks, parked the car at an intersection and made the threatening comment, according to Chris Togneri, a spokesman for the Pittsburgh Police Department. When the driver tried to lock the doors, the women jumped out of the back seat and ran away from the car shouting for help, Mr. Togneri said.

The authorities found the Uber driver, Richard Lomotey, 36, through his Uber app identification and photo. Mr. Lomotey, who is also an assistant professor of information sciences and technology at Penn State Beaver, a commonwealth campus of the state university in Monaca, Pa., was arrested and charged with two counts of kidnapping, two counts of harassment and two counts of false imprisonment.

The arrest was a new blow to Uber, which has struggled with allegations of sexual misconduct by drivers and is trying to recover from a disappointing initial public offering last week.