Cleveland Police Federation Chair Lauren Somerville fought back tears as she paid tribute to two police officers killed in the A66 crash during an appearance on Good Morning Britain.
PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough died in the early hours of Saturday when a vehicle travelling the wrong way collided with their car. The collision, near Middlesbrough, also claimed the lives of five young men in the other vehicle.
Emotional tribute on Good Morning Britain
Speaking to presenters Ranvir Singh and Adil Ray, Somerville appeared visibly moved as she honoured the officers. She opened up about the grief she and members of her team were facing, saying "it's really hard to put into words".
"It's so difficult to describe the feeling of the grief and the weight of the grief and the pain," she said. Somerville went on to thank members of the public for the support the police have received in the wake of the tragedy.
Fundraiser surpasses £1m
A fundraiser for the two police officers has reached more than £1m after public support. It was launched by the Cleveland Police Federation, and includes £4,000 from the Cleveland branch of the National Association of Retired Police Officers.
Its chair Grant Thorburn said the officers' deaths had "hit home hard", adding: "Once you're a police officer, you're always a police officer, so even after you retire, particularly in Cleveland, it's such a small, compact force, everyone knows everyone else."
The fundraiser will be split equally between the two families of the officers that died.
Public support and ongoing service
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Somerville said: "The messages of support that are coming through from the public are so comforting to the families, and I know that they are so comforting to our officers.
"To know the public believe in us, they see us, they hear us, they're supporting us, and we need those arms around us through all the grief that we're in the middle of right now."
Amid the ongoing investigation into the crash, she added: "There is ongoing crime, there always is, there always will be, and our officers at the moment are still serving the public.
"They're still turning up every night, running towards danger for the public, which is why the support is so important, to know that the public can finally see what we do and the sacrifice that we make as police officers."
After the news that two people died in a house fire in Middlesbrough, Somerville added: "It feels at the moment like tragedy after tragedy, and I'll go back to the support, it's so important that the public and the country wrap their arms around Cleveland at the minute. It is just unprecedented what we are facing."
The five individuals who lost their lives in the other vehicle were Michael Robert Cahill, 23, Jakub Matusiak, 23, Makai Saddington, 18, and 17-year-olds Theo Rae and Cole Robert Worthy.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1 and ITVX.
