COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Derrick Johnson buried his mother’s ashes beneath a golden dewdrop tree with purple blossoms at his home on Maui’s Haleakalā Volcano, fulfilling her wish of a final resting place looking over her grandchildren.
Then the FBI called.
It was Feb. 4, 2024, and Johnson was teaching an eighth-grade gym class.
“‘Are you the son of Ellen Lopes?’” a woman asked, Johnson recalled in an interview with The Associated Press.
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There had been an incident, and an FBI agent would fly out to explain, the caller said. Then she asked: “‘Did you use Return to Nature for a funeral home?’”
“‘You should probably google them,’” she added.
In the clatter of the weight room, Johnson typed “Return to Nature” into his cellphone. Dozens of news reports appeared, details popping out in a blur.
Hundreds of bodies stacked on top of each other. Inches of body decomposition fluid. Swarms of bugs. Investigators traumatized. Governor declares state of emergency.
Johnson felt nauseated and his chest constricted, forcing the breath from his lungs. He pushed himself out of the building as another teacher heard his cries and came running.
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Derrick Johnson, whose mother’s body was one of 189 left to decay in the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colo., holds family photos in his aunt’s home in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
Derrick Johnson, whose mother’s body was one of 189 left to decay in the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colo., holds family photos in his aunt’s home in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
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Two FBI agents visited Johnson the following week, confirming his mother’s body was among 189 that Return to Nature’s owners, Jon and Carie Hallford, had stashed in a Colorado building between 2019 and Oct. 4, 2023, when the bodies were found.
Even as the Hallfords’ bills went unpaid, authorities said they spent lavishly on Tiffany jewelry, luxury cars and laser-body sculpting, pocketing about $130,000 clients paid for cremations.
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They were arrested in Oklahoma in November 2023 and charged with abusing nearly 200 corpses.
Hundreds of families learned from officials that the ashes they ceremonially spread or kept close weren’t actually their loved ones’ remains. The bodies of their mothers, fathers, grandparents, children and babies had moldered in a room-temperature building in Colorado.
Jon Hallford will be sentenced Friday, facing between 30 to 50 years in prison, and Carie Hallford in April after a judge accepted their plea agreements in December. Attorneys for Jon and Carie Hallford did not respond to an AP request for comment.
Johnson, 45, who’s suffered panic attacks since the FBI called, promised himself that he would speak at Hallford’s sentencing and ask for the maximum penalty.
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“When the judge passes out how long you’re going to jail, and you walk away in cuffs,” he said, “you’re gonna hear me.”
“She lied”
Jon and Carie Hallford were a husband-and-wife team who advertised “green burials” without embalming as well as cremation at their Return to Nature funeral home in Colorado Springs.
She would greet grieving families, guiding them through their loved ones’ final journey. He was less seen.
Johnson called the funeral home in early February 2023, the week his mother died. Carie Hallford assured him she would take good care of his mother, Johnson said.
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Days later, she handed Johnson a blue box containing a zip-tied plastic bag with gray powder, saying those were his mother’s ashes.
“She lied to me over the phone. She lied to me through email. She lied to me in person,” Johnson told the AP.
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Derrick Johnson, whose mother’s body was one of 189 left to decay in the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colo., poses for a portrait in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
Derrick Johnson, whose mother’s body was one of 189 left to decay in the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colo., poses for a portrait in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
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The following day, the box lay surrounded by flowers and photos of Ellen Marie Shriver-Lopes at a memorial service at a Holiday Inn in Colorado Springs.
Johnson sprinkled rose petals over it as a preacher said: “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”
Caught on video
On Sept. 9, 2023, surveillance footage showed a man appearing to be Jon Hallford walk inside a building owned by Return to Nature in the town of Penrose, outside Colorado Springs, according to an arrest affidavit.
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Camera footage inside showed a body laying on a gurney wearing a diaper and hospital socks. The man flipped it onto the floor.
Then he “appeared to wipe the remaining decomposition from the gurney onto other bodies in the room,” before wheeling what appeared to be two more bodies into the building, the affidavit said.
In a text to his wife, Hallford said, “while I was making the transfer, I got people juice on me,” according to court testimony.
The neighborhood mom
Johnson grew up with his mother in an affordable-housing complex in Colorado Springs, where she knew everyone.
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Johnson’s father wasn’t around much; at 5 years old, Johnson remembers seeing him punch his mom, sending her careening into a table, then onto a guitar, breaking it.
It was Lopes who taught Johnson to shave and hollered from the bleachers at his football games.
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Photographs of Ellen Marie Shriver-Lopes, whose body was one of 189 left to decay in the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colo., are stacked in her sister’s home in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
Photographs of Ellen Marie Shriver-Lopes, whose body was one of 189 left to decay in the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colo., are stacked in her sister’s home in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
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Neighborhood kids called her “mom,” some sleeping on the couch when they needed a place to stay and a warm meal. She would chat with Jehovah’s Witnesses because she didn’t want to be rude. With a life spent in social work, Lopes would say: “If you have the ability and you have the voice to help: Help.”
Johnson spoke with his mother nearly everyday. After diabetes left her blind and bedridden at age 65, she’d ask Johnson to describe what her grandchildren looked like over the phone.
It was Super Bowl Sunday in 2023 when her heart stopped.
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Johnson, who had flown in from Hawaii to be at her bedside, clutched her warm hand and held it until it was cold.
A gruesome discovery
Detective Sgt. Michael Jolliffe and Laura Allen, the county’s deputy coroner, stood outside the Penrose building on Oct. 3, 2023, according to the 50-page arrest affidavit.
A sign on the door read “Return to Nature Funeral Home” and listed a phone number. When Jolliffe called it, it was disconnected. Cracked concrete and yellow stalks of grass encircled the building. At back was a shabby hearse with expired registration. A window air-conditioner hummed.
Someone had told Jolliffe of a rank smell coming from the building the day before, the affidavit said.
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One neighbor told an AP reporter they thought it came from a septic tank; another said her daughter’s dog always headed to the building whenever it got off-leash.
It was reminiscent of rancid manure or rotting fish, and struck anyone downwind of the building.
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A hearse and van sit outside the Return to Nature Funeral Home, in Penrose, Colo., Oct. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
A hearse and van sit outside the Return to Nature Funeral Home, in Penrose, Colo., Oct. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
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Jolliffe and Allen spotted a dark stain under the door and on the building’s stucco exterior. They thought it looked like fluids they had seen during investigations with decaying bodies, the affidavit said.
But the building’s windows were covered and they couldn’t see inside.
Allen contacted the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agency, which oversees funeral homes, which got in touch with Jon Hallford. Hallford agreed to show an inspector inside the next afternoon.
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Inspector Joseph Berry arrived, but Hallford didn’t show.
Berry found a small opening in one of the window coverings, the affidavit said. Peering through, he saw white plastic bags that looked like body bags on the floor.
A judge issued a search warrant that week.
Bodies stacked high
Donning protective suits, gloves, boots and respirators, investigators entered the 2,500-square-foot (232-square-meter) building on Oct. 5, 2023, according to the affidavit.
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Inside, they found a large bone grinder and next to it a bag of Quikrete that investigators suspected was used to mimic ashes. Bodies were stacked in nearly a dozen rooms, including the bathroom, sometimes so high they blocked doorways, the affidavit said.
There were 189.
Some had decayed for years, others several months, according to the affidavit. Many were in body bags, some wrapped in sheets and duct tape. Others were half-exposed, on gurneys or in plastic totes, or lay with no covering, it said.
Investigators believed the Hallfords were experimenting with water cremation, which can dissolve a body in several hours, the document said. There were swarms of bugs and maggots.
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Body bags were filled with fluid, according to the affidavit. Some had ripped. Five-gallon buckets had been placed to catch the leaks. Removal teams “trudged through layers of human decomposition on the floor,” it said.
Investigators identified bodies using fingerprints, hospital bracelets and medical implants, the affidavit said. It said one body was supposed to be buried in Pikes Peak National Cemetery.
Investigators exhumed the wooden casket at the burial site of the U.S. Army veteran, who served in Vietnam and the Persian Gulf. Inside was a woman’s deteriorated body, wrapped in duct tape and plastic sheets.
The veteran’s body was discovered in the Penrose building, covered in maggots.
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“Ashes to ashes”
Following the call from the FBI, Johnson promised himself he would speak at the Hallfords’ sentencing. But he struggled to talk about what had happened even with close friends, let alone in front of a judge and the Hallfords.
For months, Johnson obsessed over the case, reading dozens of news reports, often glued to his phone until one of his children would interrupt him to play.
When he shut his eyes, he said he imagined trudging through the building with “maggots, flies, centipedes. There’s rats, they’re feasting.” He asked a preacher if his mother’s soul had been trapped there. She reassured him it hadn’t. When an episode of the zombie show “The Walking Dead” came on, he broke down.
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Derrick Johnson, whose mother’s body was one of 189 left to decay in the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colo., poses for a portrait in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
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Derrick Johnson, whose mother’s body was one of 189 left to decay in the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colo., poses for a portrait in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
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Johnson started seeing a therapist and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. He joined Zoom meetings with other victims’ relatives as the number grew from dozens to hundreds.
After Lopes’ body was identified, Johnson flew in March 2024 to Colorado, where his mother’s remains lay in a brown box in a crematorium.
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“I don’t think you blame me, but I still want to tell you I’m sorry,” he recalled saying, placing his hand on the box.
Then Lopes’ body was loaded into the cremator and Johnson pushed the button.
Justice
Johnson has slowly improved with therapy, engaging more with his students and children. He practiced speaking at the Hallfords’ sentencings while in therapy. Closing his eyes, he envisioned standing in front of the judge — and the Hallfords.
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Derrick Johnson, whose mother’s body was one of 189 left to decay in the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colo., is interviewed in his aunt’s home in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
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Derrick Johnson, whose mother’s body was one of 189 left to decay in the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colo., is interviewed in his aunt’s home in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
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“Justice is, it’s the part that is missing from this whole equation,” he said. “Maybe somehow this justice frees me.”
“And then there’s part of me that’s scared it won’t, because it probably won’t.”
Three appliances attended the scene on Buchanan Street on Sunday afternoon.
Fire crews raced to Frasers in Glasgow city centre after receiving reports of smoke coming from the popular store.
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Emergency personnel rushed to the shop at 2.41pm on Sunday, April 19. An alarm was raised following reports of a “small fire”.
Three appliances attended the scene on Buchanan Street, and firefighters discovered a small blaze within the building. The fire was extinguished, and there were no reported injuries, reports Glasgow Live.
The cause of the fire has not been confirmed, and all crews have since left the scene.
A spokesperson for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: “We received a call at 2.41pm to Buchanan Street in Glasgow.
“We sent three appliances due to reports of smoke. There was a small fire that was extinguished by the fire service.
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“We are no longer in attendance.”
Frasers has been contacted for comment by our sister title.
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NEW YORK (AP) — A refund system for businesses that paid tariffs which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled President Donald Trump imposed without the constitutional authority to do so is scheduled to launch Monday.
Importers and their brokers will be able to begin claiming refunds through an online portal beginning at 8 a.m., according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency administering the system.
It’s the first step in a complicated process that also might eventually lead to refunds for consumers who were billed for some or all of the tariffs on products shipped to them from outside the United States.
Companies must submit declarations listing the goods on which they collectively put billions of dollars toward the import taxes the court subsequently struck down. If CBP approves a claim, it will take 60-90 days for a refund to be issued, the agency said.
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The government expects to process refunds in phases, however, focusing first on more recent tariff payments. Any number of technical factors and procedural issues could delay an importer’s application, so any reimbursements businesses plan to make to customers likely would trickled down slowly.
In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court on Feb. 20 found that Trump usurped Congress’ tax-setting role last April when he set new import tax rates on products from almost every other country, citing the U.S. trade deficit as a national emergency that warranted his invoking of a 1977 emergency powers law. International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Although the court majority did not address refunds in its ruling, a judge at the U.S. Court of International Trade determined last month that companies subjected to IEEPA tariffs were entitled to them.
Not all taxed imports immediately eligible
Customs and Border Protection said in court filings that over 330,000 importers paid a total of about $166 billion on over 53 million shipments.
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Not all of those orders quality for the first phase of the refund system’s rollout, which is limited to cases in which tariffs were estimated but not finalized or within 80 days of receiving a final accounting.
To receive refunds, importers have to register for the CPB’s electronic payment system. As of April 14, 56,497 importers had completed registration and were eligible for refunds totaling $127 billion, including interest, the agency said.
System requires accuracy
Meghann Supino, a partner at Ice Miller, said the law firm has advised clients to carefully list in their declarations all of the document numbers for forms that went to CBP to describe imported goods and their value.
“If there is an entry on that file that does not qualify, it may cause the entire entry to be rejected or that line item might be rejected by Customs,” she said.
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Supino thinks the portal going live will require composure as well as diligence.
“Like any electronic online program that goes live with a lot of interest, I would expect that there might be some hiccups with the program on Monday,” she said. “So we continue to ask everyone to be patient, because we think that patience will pay off.”
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Nghi Huynh, the partner-in-charge of transfer pricing at accounting and consulting firm Armanino, said most companies claiming refunds will have imported a mix of items, and not all will qualify right away.
“It’s about having a clear process in place and keeping track of what’s been submitted and what’s been paid, so nothing falls through the cracks,” she said. “Each file can include thousands of entries, but accuracy is critical, as submissions can be rejected if formatting or data is incorrect.”
Patience with the process
Small businesses have eagerly awaited the chance to apply for refunds. Brad Jackson, co-founder of After Action Cigars in Rochester, Minnesota, said he starting compiling records and preparing to enter information into the system the minute CPB announced the launch date.
The company imports cigars and accessories from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Last year, it paid $34,000 in tariffs and absorbed much of the cost instead of raising customer prices, Jackson said.
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Last spring, he had a two-week delay in a shipment due to a missing document, so he is being more careful with refund documents, he said.
“My main concern is the turnaround time,” Jackson said. “A refund process that takes several months to complete doesn’t solve the cash flow problem that it is supposed to fix.”
Will consumers see refunds?
Tariffs are paid by importers, and some companies pass on the tax costs to consumers via higher prices.
The system starting up Monday will refund tariffs directly to the businesses that paid them, which are not obligated to share the proceeds with customers. However, class-action lawsuits that aim to force companies, ranging from Costco to Ray-Ban maker Essilor Luxottica, to reimburse shoppers are winding their way through the U.S. legal system.
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Individuals may be more likely to receive refunds from delivery companies like FedEx and UPS, which collected tariffs on imports directly from consumers. FedEx has said it would return tariff refunds to customers when it receives them from the CPB.
“Supporting our customers as they navigate regulatory changes remains our top priority,” FedEx said in a statement. “We are working with our customers as CBP begins processing refunds and plan to begin filing claims on April 20.”
They are appealing for information about the man, whom they believe is the owner of the dog and was last seen wearing dark clothes and a black cap.
The incident happened on New Lane, Huntington, close to New Lane Cemetery, at 11.50am.
The boy did not need hospital treatment and suffered no lasting injuries, say police.
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If you have information that can help police investigate the incident or locate the man, email rebecca.james@northyorkshire.police.uk, or, you can call North Yorkshire Police on 101 and ask for Rebecca James, or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or via their website.
Please quote reference 12260064394 when passing on information.
It was billed as a Premier League title decider and Arsenal must now hope that is not the case.
A win for City in midweek against Burnley and Arsenal will be second by the time they host Newcastle next weekend.
This was a significant improvement on Arsenal’s recent form in terms of overall performance but missed chances undermined that.
Kai Havertz wasted two huge opportunities. Rayan Cherki and Erling Haaland were ruthless when their moments came. City now look certain to pull alongside the Gunners on the home straight.
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Mikel Arteta and his squad were applauded by their own fans at the full-time whistle
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There was a defiance to the Arsenal away end at full-time.
They had just watched the Gunners fall to a painful defeat, a fourth in six matches in the latest instalment of the annual April stumble.
The Arsenal fans, though, gave the players a big ovation. This was a rallying cry of sorts, an insistence that the title race has not yet slipped away. How true that is will play out in Arsenal’s final five matches.
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Mikel Arteta‘s side were not outplayed. They did not collapse in the face of a huge occasion, but they were poor in front of goal.
That proved the difference. In a title race that could now come down to goal difference, it must change.
If it comes down to a straight shootout between Arsenal and City, it is hard to see the trophy not returning to Manchester.
In a strange way, though, some momentum has been restored for Arsenal. This was the best they have played in weeks and provides something to build on after a more adventurous display.
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The title is still there to be won, even if City now have to be the favourites.
Kai Havertz had a tough day at the office
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What does Arteta do up front now?
In a game that Arsenal needed to hold the ball up in, Havertz started. He was a much more effective focal point leading the line than Viktor Gyokeres and linked the ball well.
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He also pressed superbly and forced the equaliser, harrying Gianluigi Donnarumma and charging down a clearance into the net.
The German was played clean through by Martin Odegaard on the hour mark and should have put Arsenal in front. That shot was saved. Five minutes later, Haaland scored the winner.
It would not have been the winner, though, had Havertz converted a free header deep in stoppage-time, but he powered that over the bar.
Those were two huge moments in the match and in Arsenal’s season. They could look even more costly come the end of May.
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Arteta does not have a striker than can do it all. Gyokeres is a better finisher but is lacking elsewhere. Havertz fell short when he was most needed.
Gabriel lucky to avoid a red card
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Gabriel loses Haaland battle
Gabriel barely saw Haaland in the early stages of the match.
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The Brazilian instead followed Cherki around the pitch, while Saliba went man-to-man with Haaland.
That changed with one clash before half-time, Haaland winning a header and Gabriel then wrestling with him on the floor as neither let the other up.
Gabriel was well off his best. He was beaten too easily by Cherki for the first goal and then let Haaland get in front of him at the back post for what proved to be the winner.
Arsenal’s centre-back was very fortunate to even make the full-time whistle.
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Another duel with Haaland led to the City striker shoving Gabriel off the ball and the Brazilian took the bait.
Gabriel has been superb this season, one of Arsenal’s players of the campaign, but this was an off-day at the wrong time.
Armed police have swarmed a tower block in north Manchester following an incident.
Emergency services are at the scene on Broadmoss Drive in Blackley, where the entrance to Somerton Court has been cordoned off. The road is partially blocked in both directions, according to traffic monitoring site Inrix.
A forensics unit has also been called to the incident. Greater Manchester Police has been contacted for comment.
They say the victim was walking on The Mount in Malton at about 8.20am on Wednesday when the driver confronted him and assaulted him, causing minor injuries.
Police are appealing for information about the suspect and any potential witnesses, particularly two women, who may have witnessed the incident.
Alternatively, you can call North Yorkshire Police on 101 and ask for Brooke Clark , or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or via their website.
Please quote reference 12260067019 when passing on information.
That’s exactly that and when you don’t do it and they have individual quality to deliver in those moments, you risk losing the game because I don’t think there was any difference between the teams.
On if loss came down to bad luck:
“There are a few elements. There is an element of luck with whether the ball goes in or not. The second one the ball deflects, it goes to Haaland.
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“There is individual quality as well and there is, in that moment, to be so cool, precise and ruthless. You have to be that.”
On Arsenal’s performance:
“You could see at the end of the game, and right from the beginning, the attitude of the team. We could have been a bit more composed in certain moments but we certainly took the game to where we wanted and we had big chances to win.
“We went very close but not close enough and now we have to accept we lost an opportunity today, a big one, but there are still five games to go. We need to reset and go again because there are a lot of positives to take from the game.”
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On the approach:
“With the ball we had the same [intent] and we generated the situations that we believed we could generate.
“There is even one where Kai [Havertz] is totally free on the halfway to go one-on-one. We are in the level that we are in because this team has taken us there. That’s the level you need to be to win it.
“Today there are certainly elements, in front of goal which is the most important one, and big chances – you have to put them away to come away from the Etihad with three points.”
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On quality of the match:
“Yes, there was moments but it was a battle as well, and intensity, because you expect that.
“There were big parts of the game that had similarities with the first 28 minutes of the cup final because we had two massive chances to go ahead – and we didn’t. That changes the course of the game.
“We take it game by game, we had some very good moments a few days ago in the Champions League against Sporting.
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“We are playing so many games, we are the only team that is playing and playing and playing, that’s a difference as well.
“But the positive is that today we have seen the level and there are five games to go. We are going to give it a real go.”
On effect of losing this match:
“We have full belief that we can do it. Today we showed again the team that we are. It’s in our hands and it’s there for the taking.”
Arsenal’s lead at the top was cut to just three points with defeat away to Manchester City (Picture: Getty)
Patrick Vieira was ‘disappointed’ to see Eberechi Eze taken off in Arsenal’s 2-1 loss to Manchester City, claiming the forward was just beginning to ‘get into the game’ when he was substituted.
Erling Haaland scored his 23rd league goal of the season to steer City to within three points of Arsenal, with Pep Guardiola’s men boasting a game in hand over the leaders.
The Gunners produced a spirited display after their recent dip in form, with Kai Havertz making it all square just moments after Rayan Cherki’s solo piece of brilliance to open the scoring in the 16th minute.
The visitors had chances to draw level in an entertaining second half, with Eze striking against the woodwork and Havertz squandering a huge chance after being put through by Martin Odegaard.
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But Haaland’s 65th-minute effort ultimately proved the difference and City can leapfrog Mikel Arteta’s men in the Premier League table with victory over lowly Burnley on Wednesday night.
And after the final whistle, the ex-Arsenal captain suggested Arteta had made another possible mistake removing Eze from the field of play when he was beginning to make inroads in the final third.
Eze was taken off for Trossard in the 74th minute (Picture: Getty)
Haaland scored the decisive goal at the Etihad (Picture: Getty)
Asked if Arteta was wrong to move Eze out to the left, Vieira said on Sky Sports: ‘No because he didn’t stay on the left-hand side, he came inside and created the overload and that was, I think, the tactical plan.
‘It was really interesting because he touched the ball a lot.
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‘I was a bit disappointed, to be honest, that he came off because I think he was getting into the game and he could create chances for scoring goals because he’s got that quality.
‘Taking him off, I think I was disappointed to see him off.’
Guardiola’s side can leapfrog Arsenal with victory at Burnley on Wednesday (Picture: Getty)
The result means Arsenal have won just one of their last six matches in all competitions and Arteta’s side must quickly regroup ahead of their clash with Newcastle in a week’s time.
Roy Keane was encouraged by the Gunners’ display against City – but argued the visitors ultimately failed to deliver when it came to ‘the hardest part of football’.
‘The criticism with Arsenal over the last few months is maybe that lack of creativity,’ the ex-Manchester United captain explained.
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‘There was plenty of it today but the hardest part of football is putting the ball in the back of the net.’
Vieira felt Arteta got it wrong replacing Eze (Picture: Getty)
Keane’s Sky Sports colleague, Micah Richards, felt the result could be the beginning of the end for Arsenal’s title charge, with City wrestling the ‘momentum’ in their favour at a crucial stage of the campaign.
‘I’ve always said whoever wins this game will have the momentum,’ ex-City and England defender Richards declared shortly after the final whistle.
‘Obviously City got to go to Burnley and win that but Arsenal have still got two games before Manchester City play again, they’ve got Newcastle and Fulham.
‘I just thought this was the game. If they could get over the line in this game and stay within three points of Arsenal, I just think with the experience, the big players, the big moments…
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‘I thought Arsenal were very good in all honesty today, but Manchester City just get over the line and Rayan Cherki, what a player he is.
‘Bernardo Silva, the energy that he puts in, the way he gets on the ball, being an older guy. Leaving at the end of the season. But they just have that momentum going into the end of the season.’
In a season to forget, those Liverpool fans situated in the corner of the Hill Dickinson Stadium will never forget this afternoon on the banks of the River Mersey.
As Virgil van Dijk headed in a 100th-minute winner, the 3,000 Liverpool supporters went wild.
Yet again, Liverpool had snatched an injury-time winner against their local rivals. For the sixth time in Premier League history to be precise.
In this fixture last season, it was Everton celebrating an added-time equaliser when James Tarkowski scored in the last ever Merseyside derby held at Goodison Park.
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Now, no matter what happens, Liverpool will always have the bragging rights of the first derby at the Hill Dickinson.
For one afternoon in the Merseyside sunshine, they will not have cared one jot about the struggles they have endured this season.
Everton came into this game with real belief but it was Liverpool who defied the early storm to take a surprise lead through Mohamed Salah and they deserve credit for their work on set-pieces in training, which came to fruition when Van Dijk got on the end of Dominik Szoboszlai’s corner to exploit an Everton weakness that had been identified in the days leading up to the game.
Crucially, Arne Slot’s side now look set to secure Champions League football for next season and the Dutchman had two of his most senior players to thank for one of Liverpool‘s biggest victories this season.
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“At the end of the day, it’s the players who have been brilliant for such a long time for Liverpool Football Club that have come up with the goods. It’s Virgil van Dijk again, it’s Mohamed Salah who has managed to do it again and break Everton hearts,” said Pat Nevin on 5 Live.
“That goal has probably given Liverpool what they need – and what they need is Champions League football. They’re going to bring in a lot of players next season – yes, the name of Liverpool Football Club means a lot and that will drag a lot of players to them, but the Champions League helps. It really helps and I think they’ll get that after that moment from Virgil van Dijk,” Nevin added.
When it comes to days like this, the result trumps everything but Slot and Liverpool will be aware of the scale of the task that lies ahead.
That they look to set to secure Champions League football is primarily because Chelsea have lost their last four Premier League games and none of the chasing pack are likely to catch up with Liverpool, who have lost 10 league games this season.
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If the hierarchy choose to stick with Slot, then there are clear questions. Can this Liverpool team adopt an actual identity? What needs to be done defensively? How do you get the best out of Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak? And perhaps above all, how do Liverpool live without Salah?
Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy told BBC Sport: “Not being in a Champions League spot is a catastrophe for Liverpool and that win today goes a long way to putting them in it.
“I think every win for Liverpool is important at the moment, by hook or by crook – it doesn’t matter how they do it because the pressure is on.
“They are not playing well and they do look disjointed. They gave up chances today and they were second best in the first half.”
Haaland and Gabriel were involved in a long-running battle at the Etihad but tensions spilled over in the 83rd minute. It was sparked when Haaland gave Gabriel a push from the side after he had been fouled from behind by the Arsenal defender.
Gabriel reacted by putting his head towards Haaland’s and they stood for a moment with their foreheads touching. But Gabriel then made a another movement and pushed his head towards Haaland’s for a second time.
Haaland did not respond, as team-mates from both sides then broke them up. Anthony Taylor then showed both Haaland and Gabriel a yellow card for their involvement in the altercation, while the incident was checked by VAR.
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Speaking to Sky Sports, Haaland said: “If I fell on the floor there, which I will not do unless someone really attacks me, then it would be red card. I’m not sure, I haven’t seen the situation. It is what it is, I will not fall on the floor. For me I don’t know why he comes up to my face.”
What did the VAR say?
Referee John Brooks was the VAR. He decided that Gabriel’s contact towards Haaland’s head was not “deemed not to be excessively aggressive or violent”. He agreed with Taylor’s on-field assessment. Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, received his seventh booking of the season protesting the lack of punishment. Guardiola could be seen acting out a ‘headbutt’ on the touchline.
It may raise some eyebrows, however, that Manchester United centre-back Lisandro Martinez was sent off for pulling Leeds United striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s hair in a 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford on Monday, while Gabriel avoided harsher punishment. Gabriel also avoided an earlier yellow card after ripping Haaland’s undershirt in an earlier grapple.
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Could Gabriel be sanctioned?
As referee Taylor saw the incident, and it wasn’t missed by VAR, it means Gabriel will be available for Arsenal’s next three games. Arsenal will host Newcastle and Fulham before going to West Ham in their next three Premier League fixtures, with just five games of the season remaining.
What did Erling Haaland say?
The striker told Sky Sports: “If I fell on the floor there, which I will not do unless someone really attacks me, then it would maybe be red card. I’m not sure, I haven’t seen the situation. It is what it is, I will not fall on the floor. For me I don’t know why he comes up to my face.”
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Haaland was also praised by Manchester City captain Bernando Silva, who called the striker an “animal” for how he competed against Gabriel and William Saliba.
“Erling was fantastic today, fighting for every ball,” Silva told Sky Sports. “It’s not easy with two centre-backs that strong. Apart from the goal that he always scores, today he fought like an animal.”
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