Ex-NYPD officer’s dog slept in heated room as son froze to death locked inside garage
(The AEGIS Alliance) – A former NYPD police officer that purportedly left his aged 8 autistic son locked inside an icy cold garage apparently always kept a household pet dog in a heated space in the house while this happened, according to Monday’s pre-trial testimony.
Michael Valva as well as his fiancee at the time, Angela Pollina are both charged with murder for the death of Thomas Justin Valva on January 17, 2020, with authorities implicating both in locking the kid through the night in a freezing garage while it had only been 19 degrees outside.
Tyrene Rodriguez, a house cleaner, was a witness who testified at the Long Island pre-trial hearing concerning the young boy’s last moments, she noted she grabbed her cleaning items from the entryway area of the home where the pet canine “Bella” would sleep, according to WPIX11.
“And that’s a heated room?” the Suffolk County prosecutor inquired Rodriguez, WPIX reported.
“Yes,” Rodriguez responded.
Rodriguez said to the court she had actually listened to Thomas bursting into tears when she showed up that early morning to tidy up Valva’s home and also observed both Michael and Angela escort Thomas into the basement. Minutes later on, Pollina came back hysterically stating Thomas wasn’t breathing, the house cleaner pointed out.
Rodriguez assisted while Valva made an effort to administer CPR to the dying boy, along with the house cleaner bending Thomas’s head back to open his air passages.
“He was very cold,” she stated, Newsday reported. “He was damp.”
Defense lawyers have been trying to challenge whether detectives had the authorization to search the residence. The pre-trial hearing argued if some evidence ought to be accepted in Valva’s murder trial or not.
Laura Lauretta who lives next door additionally testifying at the hearing stated she observed Pollina in the bed at Long Island Community Hospital after the child had died.
“She was groggy,” Lauretta pointed out, “She was sleeping. She was moaning.”
Valva and Pollina each pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder.
Jeffrey Childers – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
