Ex-NYPD cop Michael Valva ‘had no emotion’ as 8-year-old son lay dying: paramedic

Ex-NYPD cop Michael Valva showed “no emotion” as emergency workers fought to revive his dying 8-year-old autistic son inside his Long Island home, a paramedic testified Thursday at the disgraced officer’s murder trial.

“He had no emotion, no sense of concern,” paramedic Erin Lambert told jurors in the Riverhead courtroom, saying Valva “kind of stood in the background the entire time.”

“There was no crying,” Lambert said. “Most parents panic and freak out in a situation like that. There was nothing like that. Most of the time parents are screaming, crying, jumping on me, begging me to save their child.”

The ex-cop later stood stone-faced at the foot of his son’s bed at Long Island Community Hospital when the boy was pronounced dead at 10:28 a.m. Jan. 17, 2020, Lambert said.

“There were no tears. There was no emotion,” the paramedic testified. “Somebody, a staff member came into the room and asked him if he needed a drink, a chair, to make a phone call.

“He turned and said, ‘No, I’ve been in more stressful situations.'”

Valva, 43, is on trial for murder in the freezing death of his son, Thomas Valva, who died after allegedly being locked in an unheated garage as punishment for having soiled himself.

The ex-cop claimed to first responders that he put his son in the shower after the boy ran into a doorframe and cut his face and head — and that he later found little Thomas unresponsive, Lambert testified Thursday.

But authorities said Thomas died as a result of hypothermia after being locked in the garage at the Central Moriches home for 16 hours amid frigid temperatures.

Lambert and another paramedic who was dispatched to the house testified Thursday that Thomas was likely already dead when they arrived.

“I thought he was deceased,” EMT James King told the jury. “It looked like he was deceased for a while because of his coloring. He was mottled. His skin was gray, blue, purple. He had a large bruise to his forehead.”

King reiterated that Valva initially said his son had hit the doorframe.

“Maybe a minute later, out in the open, he said he fell outside and hit his head on the cobblestone,” King said. “It did [seem odd]. There were two different stories in less than a minute, maybe.”

Danielle Ryden, a nursing assistant at Long Island Community Hospital, said the boy “was ice cold” when he was brought in.

Ryden said Valva “remained pretty much emotionless.”

During opening statements Wednesday, Valva’s lawyer Anthony La Pinta said his client’s then-fiancée Angela Polina was responsible for the fatal abuse and refused to let him provide Thomas with a blanket and other amenities prior to his death. Polina is being tried separately on the murder charges.

Suffolk County District Attorney Laura Newcombe, in her opening statements, said Valva had established brutally rigid ground rules for Thomas and his 10-year-old brother.

“I will beat them until they bleed,” Newcombe said Valva texted Polina before the incident. “It’s the only thing that works.”

Newcombe said the two boys were so badly neglected that they had to scrounge through garbage cans at school to eat.

The trial is expected to last about three weeks.