NYPD Officer Thomas Valva, charged with murder after his autistic son froze to death in garage, quits police force
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The NYPD officer accused of beating his autistic 8-year-old son and letting him freeze to death in an unheated Long Island garage in the middle of winter has quit the police force.
Thomas Valva, 41, resigned Wednesday after 15 years with the NYPD, a police spokeswoman confirmed.
Valva and his fiancee, Angela Pollina are charged with murder. His son, Thomas, froze to death Jan. 17 after his father allegedly forced him to sleep in the garage of the family’s Center Moriches home. The boy’s body temperature had dropped to 76 degrees.
Valva’s layer, John LoTurco, told Newsday he “voluntarily resigned” the NYPD.
“He executed paperwork in that regard today, which protects his benefits and his pension. There’s no admission of any wrongdoing. It allows him to forgo any disciplinary hearing and in exchange, he will no longer receive any salary or any future benefits,” LoTurco told the paper after a status conference in Suffolk County Supreme Court on Wednesday.
The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office has opened a special grand jury probe of little Thomas’ death, after child welfare workers, judges and lawyers ignored two years of warnings that his father was allegedly abusing him.
A recording recovered by investigators captured Valva and Pollina discussing Thomas after another child asked why the boy couldn’t walk.
“He keeps face-planting on the concrete,” Valva said in the recording. When Pollina said, “You know why he’s falling,” the cop responded, “Because he’s cold. Boo f---ing hoo.”
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