A young boy tragically passed away after his father allegedly made him sleep on the floor of a cold garage.
41-year-old Michael Valva has been charged with second-degree murder and could face life in prison after being accused of causing the death of Thomas Valva, his 8-year-old son with autism.
Valva, a former NYPD transit cop, broke into tears as he appeared in Suffolk County Supreme Court this week. During the pre-trial, the court heard the recording of the father’s emergency call from last January when his son passed away.
In the recording, the dad claimed that his son had stopped breathing before saying that he banged his head after falling down.
“I don’t know if he’s breathing or not. His heart stopped. He banged his head pretty good,” the father was heard saying.
After the emergency responders arrived at the scene, Valva claimed that his son had lost consciousness after tripping and banging his head in the driveway while trying to catch the school bus.
Despite their best efforts, the paramedics could not resuscitate the 8-year-old.
Following the post-mortem, it was concluded that the young boy died of hypothermia rather than a hit to the head as his father insisted.
As the prosecutors allege, Valva and his fiancé, Angela Pollina, who has also been charged with second-degree murder, forced Thomas to sleep on the floor of a cold garage without any means to stay warm.
According to the police, monitoring devices set up in the former cop’s recorded the father and his fiancé discussing Thomas’s death and confirming that the boy was washed with cold water before suffering from hypothermia in the garage.
It was also claimed that the couple laughed while talking about how the 8-year-old “face-planted” the freezing floor of the garage. “You know why he’s falling?” Pollina allegedly asked Valva, prompting the cop to respond by saying: “Because he’s cold…. boo f*****g hoo.”
Following the charges against the couple, an investigation has also been launched into CPS and their handling of reports alleging that Valva was an abusive parent.
As it came to light, Thomas’s biological mother, Justyna Zubko-Valva, pleaded for the custody of Thomas who was allegedly beaten and starved while in his father’s care. Meanwhile, school officials also raised concerns about the child’s wellbeing saying they believed he was being mistreated. Nevertheless, Valva was given full custody of Thomas and his brother back in 2017.
Throughout 2019, several CPS reports surfaced, whereas one cited potential malnutrition and garage punishments for children in Valva’s care. Another report claimed Valva threw an object at Thomas’s head.
After Thomas’s death, the 8-year-old’s brother was placed in the custody of his mother. After Valva and his partner were arrested, the NYPD cop was suspended without pay until later last year when he resigned with his pension intact.
Meanwhile, Zubko-Valva filed a lawsuit against the authorities who failed to listen to her warnings about the abusive father.
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