“It was an incredibly sad day for Cleveland .. No one should leave their home and not return safely.” Chief Constable of Cleveland Police Victoria Fuller said on Saturday while briefing the media about the crash which took Seven lives. Police Constable Matthew Blades (37) and Police Constable Tom Cluff ( 38) were among the dead.
“These were brave officers protecting our communities and serving our residents, who didn’t return home to their families at the end of their shift.
Seven people died in a crash on the A66 motorway near Middlesbrough, in northeast England, in the early hours of Saturday (August 22). Among the dead are two police officers whose vehicle, according to Cleveland Police, was hit head on by a car traveling the wrong way down the carriageway. It is one of the deadliest road crashes in Britain in recent years, and the collision was preceded by a police chase, which has also triggered an independent review of how officers handled the incident.
The crash happened at 3:39 a.m. on a stretch of the A66 near South Bank, east of Middlesbrough. A Volkswagen Passat was travelling the wrong way along the carriageway and collided directly with a marked Cleveland Police armed response vehicle that was travelling on the correct side of the road. All seven people in the two vehicles were killed at the spot.
Police said the Passat was carrying five young men. Authorities have not officially named them, though their names have since circulated on social media. They all are said to be in their early twenties.
Cleveland Police Federation chairwoman Lauren Somerville said the loss of the officers was “unfathomable”, adding: “Words cannot describe the pain the Cleveland Police family are feeling today.”
