Philadelphia police Officer Susan Pollick kept her emotions in check throughout much of the funeral Friday for slain city Officer Gary Skerski, until his massive procession passed by Bensalem schoolchildren lined up along Hulmeville Road.

“I just lost it then,” said Pollick, recalling the sight of kids waving flags, saluting and holding signs in support of the fallen officer and his family. “Bucks County has fantastic people. Those kids were amazing. That’s what broke me down.”

Pollick’s brother, Philadelphia police Officer Chris Pollick of the 15th District, was killed in the line of duty in 1997. The 28-yearold died in a car accident while responding to a robbery in progress. Susan Pollick wore her brother’s badge — 6313 — at the funeral for Skerski, a 15th District officer who was shot and killed Monday night while trying to stop an armed robbery.

An estimated 800 vehicles formed an eight-mile-long procession that traveled north on I-95, west on Street Road and north on Hulmeville Road to Resurrection Cemetery. The rumble from dozens of police motorcycles announced the procession had arrived in Bucks. When the first vehicle in the procession passed under the crossed-ladder arch created by the Edgely and Nottingham fire companies, the last vehicle had just crossed the Bensalem border on I-95 north.

The show of respect impressed hundreds of bystanders who crowded highway overpasses and lined up along the procession’s route. Motorists traveling southbound on the interstate pulled over to watch the tribute.

“Coming up I-95, it seemed everybody was on the overpass,” city paramedic JoAnn Conti said. She, too, didn’t cry until she saw the public’s show of support.

Several hundred police officers from Philadelphia, Bucks County, Pennsylvania and nearby states attended the service.

At least 50 Bensalem police officers from all ranks, plus the department’s motorcycle patrol and its honor guard, lined up across Hulmeville Road by the cemetery entrance. Several other officers from Bucks County attended the graveside service for the married father of two.

Bensalem resident Susan Sarappo said she felt compelled to bring her family to watch the procession pass. She stood beside Hulmeville Road with her husband, Joseph Sarappo III, and their children, Jena, Philip, Nicholas and Joseph IV.

“I wanted to honor the man who died for us,” she said, adding that her uncle is a retired Philadelphia cop. “The respect here is awesome.”

The procession passed by the entrance to the Hidden Valley development where Tapan Patel lives.

“I come here because I respect what the officer did for the people, and to support a family who lost a really good father,” said Patel, a reservist in the Marines.

Skerski’s death comes less than eight months after Bucks County lost another 46-year-old respected police officer and married father: Newtown Officer Brian Gregg.

He was shot and killed in the emergency room of St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown on Sept. 29 when a drunken-driving suspect grabbed the gun from Gregg’s partner and opened fire. Gregg’s partner, Officer James Warunek, and ER technician Joseph Epp were wounded.

At the funeral Mass at St. Adalbert’s Church in Philadelphia Friday, Monsignor Francis Feret pleaded for tighter gun laws.

“Enough grief, enough dead heroes, enough widows, enough fatherless children,” Feret told the congregation of more than 1,000 mourners. “When do we — families and citizens — become more important to each other than an individual’s right to have a gun?”

Feret, preaching to hundreds of police officers, grieving family members and classmates of Skerski’s children, also spoke of the need for forgiveness — a response some said would be difficult to summon.

Philadelphia police Friday continued their search for the gunman who killed Skerski, a 16-year veteran who was known through his work in community relations.

He typically worked days, but was working overtime on Monday when a hushed 911 call came in from a terrified bar customer.

The gunman had ordered patrons at Pat’s Cafe in the Lower Northeast to surrender their cash and jewelry, and then fired a shotgun blast out the back door as police approached. Skerski, who was struck in the neck, was the first Philadelphia police officer to be slain in the line of duty in a decade.

Skerski’s son, Robert, 13, and daughter, Nicole, 10, wiped away tears as they followed their father’s casket down the church steps. His widow, Anne, pulled her children toward her and huddled with a priest for support.

“I’m glad he said what he did about the guns,” family friend Marie Hoyt said of Feret’s homily. “This was so senseless.”

More than a dozen priests took part in the Mass, including Cardinal Justin Rigali, archbishop of Philadelphia. Skerski’s death comes as the city grapples with a seeming barrage of gun violence. The city tallied 380 homicides last year, the vast majority of them by guns.

“I just think this is a whole series of events that should lead a reasonable person to conclude that we should do something about the proliferation of guns,” city Mayor John Street said.

Harry Yanoshak can be reached at 215-949-4203 or hyanoshak@phillyBurbs.com.