Michael Valva (center)
The murder case against Michael Valva, 41, in the death of his son Thomas, 8, is ongoing, but his career with the New York Police Department is over. His attorney told The New York Daily News that the defendant chose to resign in order to protect a pension.
“The NYPD offered him a resignation without a disciplinary hearing, and that allowed him not to admit any culpability and just resign, allowed him to keep his pension,” lawyer John LoTurco said. “But in exchange, there’s no salary going forward. And they didn’t have to pursue any disciplinary hearing.”
An NYPD spokeswoman confirmed that the resignation occurred.
Defendant Valva and fiancée Angela Pollina are charged in the murder of young Thomas. They allegedly threw the victim into a freezing garage in January, when outside temperatures dipped to 19 degrees, Suffolk County police have said. Michael Valva allegedly attempted to make it seem like an accident, in which his son fell while trying to catch up to a school bus. Investigators, however, claim Thomas’s head and facial injuries were inconsistent with the bus account.
Authorities said they found a recording in which the couple knew Thomas was suffering from hypothermia. The father allegedly showed no remorse when pointing out that the 8-year-old “keeps face-planting on the concrete.”
“You know why he’s falling,” Pollina allegedly said.
“Because he’s cold,” Valva purportedly stated. “Boo fucking hoo.”
At one moment, Pollina allegedly asked what the elder Valva was doing to Thomas.
“I’m fucking suffocating him,” Valva allegedly said about his son. “That’s what I’m doing.”
Officers said that there’s evidence that the male defendant’s two other young sons were also being abused.
The case is going to trial. LoTurco has said in court that he wants separate trials for the defendants because the co-defendants’ approaches would clash with each other. He is working on suppressing a number of Valva’s statements.
[Screengrab CBS New York]
