N.Y.P.D. officer charged with murder of Autistic son

Post Reply New Topic

Papa also told the jury that she confronted Child Protective Services caseworkers at an East Moriches faculty meeting in March 2019, after already reporting to the child welfare agency that the brothers were frequently coming to school hungry and cold.

"I stood up angrily and said, 'I don't understand. We have a family in this school district who are abusing children. We're calling you. You're finding it unfounded,'" said Papa, a 24-year veteran of the school district.

The teachers described the brothers as “very bright.” Thomas “loved school” and Anthony had an "amazing oral reading voice" and often volunteered to read aloud. He was the first in his class to receive the much-coveted multiplication crown after mastering the topic, a proud moment for both Anthony and his teachers.

But Thomas and Anthony both began crying to Papa that they hadn’t been fed breakfast and were hungry during their first months at the school, in 2017. Papa said the boys told her they weren’t fed because they didn’t “use my words” or verbally greet Pollina or call her “mommy.”

“They just came in so distraught,” Papa said. “You can’t start your day like that.”
Additionally, Papa said, the lunches the boys brought from home, which typically consisted of half a Nutella sandwich and some snacks and a bottle of water, were not enough to sustain them.

Papa, who said she provided the boys with snacks throughout the day, said she told Valva and Pollina that the boys needed more food for lunch.

The pair responded, according to Papa, "the boys pick out their own lunch and their snack."

During a January 2018 meeting with Valva and Pollina, as well as the school psychologist and speech teacher, Papa said she explained to them that "using food as a consequence is not appropriate" and she said she offered to assist the parents with tools that would make their morning routine run more smoothly.

"Mr. Valva seemed amicable to it," Papa said. "But he never followed through."

Holborow, who has been a teacher for 28 years and taught Anthony in third grade, described giving Anthony a red, hooded sweatshirt to wear in class because he was “cold and shivering” on the second day of school in September. She laundered it on the weekends, she said.

When she asked Valva about getting Anthony, who “would sometimes beg not to have to go outside” for recess, a new pair of gloves because his were “sort of like a toddler size” and had “a lot of rips and holes in them,” Valva was not receptive, Holborow said.

"He said Anthony was the one that ripped those gloves, so he could have those gloves,” Holborow said.

Katelyn Edwards, a special-education teacher who taught Anthony in fourth grade, testified that on Sept. 13, 2019, she and Anthony, who was wearing a sweatshirt that she provided for him to wear in the class because he perpetually complained of being cold, encountered Pollina at the school.

A teacher took the stand in the Thomas Valva murder trial Friday – repeating other testimony that the Valva brothers were often seen in school beaten, bruised and hungry.

Katelyn Edwards, who was Anthony Valva's special education teacher during the 2019-2020 school year, testified that she did not know that the brothers were being forced to sleep in a garage.

She did, however, make Child Protective Services reports to address issues such as bruising, insufficient food, the children's hands being cold and red, the children limping in the classroom and more.

Edwards said she worried every time there was a long weekend or holiday that the boys would not come back because of declines in their health during periods of being home.

She testified that she was fearful that Anthony Valva would die after winter break.

Edwards described how one day Anthony Valva was slumped over on his desk in her classroom.

She also says he was lethargic and starving, even eating food off of the gym floor.
That same day, a CPS report came back unfounded. Thomas Valva died 11 days later.

Edwards admitted that she had communication with the brothers' father, Michael Valva, after the incidents with Anthony Valva.

She says he responded to an email she had sent, but said, "Responding to an email doesn't make him a good father."
When the defense pressed Edwards on if she documented that she thought Anthony Valva would die, she said, "No I didn't write I thought my student was going to die in my logs."

She said police were called on Michael Valva when he brought his gun to the school and said that was not the only issue reported to police on that occasion.

Defense attorney John LoTurco says he hopes jurors will focus on the actual evidence.

"Despite the parenting deficiencies, and the disciplinarian relationship between Michael and his children - he loved his children, he cared for his children, and he didn't have a depraved mindset," LoTurco says.

Eight-year-old Thomas Valva and his brother Anthony were captured on home surveillance video “shivering” on the bare concrete floor of the garage of their Center Moriches home the night before Thomas died from hypothermia, the lead homicide detective investigating Thomas’s death testified at the murder trial of Thomas' father, ex-NYPD officer Michael Valva.

"That was the first time I saw Anthony and Thomas in the garage on the concrete floor shivering," Norberto Flores, now an Internal Affairs sergeant, recalled from the witness stand.

Flores, testifying inside a Riverhead courtroom Tuesday afternoon, said he viewed the video on the evening of Thomas' Jan. 17, 2020, death, at Suffolk police headquarters in Yaphank after another detective downloaded the video from the home's surveillance system.

Flores told the jury he also watched other surveillance videos depicting "similar images of the children" and after alerting his supervisor, he notified Child Protective Services. Flores also called Valva "to let him know I was making a CPS referral," although he didn't tell Valva what he had seen in the videos, he said.

Suffolk prosecutors are expected to play the videos on Wednesday.

Flores also described for the jury how he interviewed Valva for about a half-hour at Long Island Community Hospital in Patchogue on the morning that Thomas died.

Prosecutors have said Valva lied to police and first responders when he alleged Thomas fell in the driveway, and alternately hit his head on a door frame, before falling unconscious on the morning he died.

Valva, during the hospital interview, told the then-homicide detective that Thomas had gotten dressed in his bedroom, went downstairs and then went outside at about 8:40 a.m., leaving through the garage door, "to play on the driveway," Flores testified.

Flores said Valva told him he stood in the doorway watching, but while he was briefly distracted, "he noticed Thomas had fallen" face-first and was "pushing himself up."

"He stated that he ran toward Thomas, who was crying and bleeding from scrapes on his face," Flores said.

Valva, who Flores said spoke in a "matter-of-fact" manner during the interview about an hour after Thomas was pronounced dead at 10:28 a.m., said he took Thomas inside the garage to clean him up after he realized the boy had soiled himself.

Valva said he took Thomas into the basement bathroom and began showering him, but the boy appeared "a bit wobbly" and complained that he was cold, Flores said, adding that Valva then said he turned the shower into a warm bath.

Valva then went upstairs to find Pollina and they returned about five minutes later to find Thomas unconscious and "slumped to the side of the tub," Flores testified.

Valva told Flores that he took Thomas out of the bath, wrapped him in blankets, checked his pulse and then called 911, Flores said. He also began administering CPR to his son, who was then on a couch.

Valva, without prompting, told Flores that there were CPS reports about his children, Flores told the jury.

"He told me that all the cases would be unfounded," Flores said, adding that Valva told him that the East Moriches school district had the highest number of reports to CPS in the state.

Ex-NYPD Officer Michael Valva repeatedly asked his son, Thomas, if he was alive when the 8-year-old collapsed and was unresponsive outside their Center Moriches home before he died of hypothermia, but he waited nearly an hour to call 911, according to a video recording and testimony presented to the jury Thursday during Valva's murder trial.

“Wake up, are you alive? Are you alive? Are you alive? Are you alive? You can’t answer me? Fine,” Valva said to his 8-year-old son on the Jan. 17, 2020, recording, 50 minutes before Valva called 911 at 9:41 a.m. Thomas was pronounced dead at 10:28 a.m. that day at Long Island Community Hospital with a body temperature of 76.1 degrees.

The boy had spent the previous night in an unheated garage when the temperature plunged to 19 degrees, said Suffolk Police Sgt. Norberto Flores, the lead detective in the case and now an Internal Affairs sergeant who has spent two days on the witness stand.

The video, along with other home security clips taken from Valva’s Bittersweet Lane home and dozens of text messages between the ex-cop and his former fiancee and co-defendant Angela Pollina, were presented Thursday inside a Riverhead courtroom.

Valva's lead defense attorney John LoTurco said after court Thursday: "The presentation of videos certainly had a dramatic impact on the entire courtroom as they clearly demonstrated that Michael Valva abused his sons. However, despite the evidence of maltreatment, the trial evidence has also shown that Michael Valva loved Thomas and never intended to cause his death. In fact, Michael attempted to save Thomas’s life by calling 911, and performed CPR once he realized Thomas was in true medical distress."

Supreme Court Justice William Condon — as he had done the day before — warned those sitting in the courtroom gallery to refrain from showing any reaction to the video and audio, which he called "very graphic."

"Both sides here are entitled to a fair trial," Condon said. "Let's make sure they get one."



Prosecutors also played video from the morning of Thomas' death from a camera posted in an area off the kitchen that was a combination laundry room and pantry — labeled “Bella’s Room” in the security system because it was where the family’s dog slept. While most of the video from that morning had been deleted when Suffolk Police Det. Guy Gerig got access to the system, that video remained, he testified earlier.

The video primarily showed the small dog lying down and sometimes pacing in the room, which was closed off by what appeared to be a baby gate. But it also picked up audio from the kitchen and the garage where prosecutors allege Thomas and Anthony had spent the night as the temperature fell to 19 degrees.

Michael Valva's former housekeeper testified Friday that the ex-NYPD officer, who is on trial for allegedly killing his 8-year-old son Thomas, was "focused" and "frantic" as he performed CPR on the boy in the basement of his Center Moriches home while on the phone with 911 -- a point that Valva's attorneys argue is key to his defense.

"Michael was giving chest compressions to Thomas on the sofa," said Tyrene Rodriguez, who was at Valva's home on Jan. 17, 2020 -- the day Thomas died -- and testified as a defense witness in a Riverhead courtroom Friday.

Prosecutors contend Valva waited about 50 minutes to call 911 at 9:41 a.m., after Valva was heard at 8:50 a.m. on surveillance video previously played for the jury screaming at Thomas to "wake up" and repeatedly asking "are you alive?"

And on cross-examination, Rodriguez conceded that she thought Thomas, who was “blue” and “looked lifeless,” was already dead while Valva performed CPR on the boy.

Valva’s defense attorneys have argued that it was Pollina who hated Thomas and Anthony because they were on the autism spectrum and had incontinence issues and she demanded the boys sleep in the garage. Valva only agreed to it, the defense has said, because he was struggling financially amid his contentious divorce from the boys’ mother and would have nowhere to live if he and Pollina broke up. But he never thought Thomas would die from sleeping in the garage, the defense has said.

Rodriguez, formerly of Mastic but now a resident of Deerfield, Ohio, testified that when she arrived to the home, which she described as "always immaculately beautiful inside” and decorated in an "'Italiany' motif,” that morning she spoke to Pollina in the kitchen. She heard crying and Pollina told her it was Thomas, who had fallen while running for the bus.

Rodriguez was cleaning the main floor bathroom sink, with music playing in her ear buds, when she heard an automated voice from the home’s surveillance system indicating the garage door opened, she testified.

“So I looked over my shoulder at that moment and I saw Michael, Angela and Thomas walking in the direction of the kitchen,” said Rodriguez, noting that she only saw Thomas legs, which were in pants. “Thomas was crying. I heard whimpering,” she said.

Some 10 to 15 minutes later, Rodriguez said, a “frazzled” and “hysterical” Pollina approached her and said “Thomas isn’t breathing. Michael has 911 on the phone.”

They ran to the basement where Valva, who had a 911 operator on speakerphone, was doing CPR, she said.

Valva defense attorney John LoTurco then played the 911 call. Both Rodriguez and Valva, sitting at the defense table, cried while the call played for the jury.

Rodriguez, who has received CPR training, said she thought it was “strange” that Valva, who also had CPR training as a police officer, initially had Thomas on the sofa because a patient should be on a hard, flat surface, Rodriguez said.

She knelt down near Thomas’ head and leaned it back to open his airway, she said, and noted that he felt “cold, clammy and wet.”

On cross-examination, prosecutor Laura Newcombe accused Rodriguez of being "a little unsure of everything that day" and played audio from the surveillance video inside the Valva house as she sought to demonstrate that Rodriguez was mistaken when she testified that she heard Thomas crying after arriving to the house at about 8:58 a.m.

Newcombe also questioned Rodriguez’s contention that a crying Thomas walked from the garage with Valva and Pollina, pointing to her earlier police statement that Valva was “cradling” the boy.

"Today was a good day for the defense because it demonstrates that Michael Valva was performing life-saving measures on Thomas," LoTurco said after court Friday. "The cleaning lady provided corroboration of that fact. It goes towards our defense that Michael was not depraved in that he actually tried to save his son. Clearly, Michael was a terrible parent. He had his significant deficiencies. But in the end, he still loved Thomas and tried to save him in the end.”

A compilation of video clips and text messages presented Monday at Michael Valva’s second-degree murder trial in Riverhead showed the ex-NYPD officer and his former fiancee repeatedly lashing out at Thomas Valva and his older brother, Anthony, over toilet accidents in the years leading to Thomas’ hypothermia death on Jan. 17, 2020.

One clip, recorded Nov. 15, 2019, on the home security system at the Center Moriches residence Valva and his three sons shared with his former fiancee, Angela Pollina, and her three daughters, shows Valva beating one of the boys in the garage where Suffolk prosecutors said they were forced to sleep, often in frigid conditions.

Suffolk police Sgt. Norberto Flores, the lead detective in the investigation into Thomas’ death, said he could not tell if Valva was beating Thomas or Anthony, but a child could be heard crying in the video.

“Like I said, when I come home, I’m going to beat them with belts,” Valva said in a text to Pollina the following day.

Prosecutors have said Thomas died after the then-couple allegedly forced Thomas to sleep in the unheated garage of their home when the temperature was 19 degrees. He was 8 years old when he died.

Valva's defense attorneys have conceded that their client was a deeply flawed father, but have argued he did not show depraved indifference as required for a second-degree murder conviction. They have blamed Pollina for Thomas’ death, saying that Valva had been emotionally and financially drained by an lengthy custody battle with the boys’ mother. Valva put up with Pollina’s bullying, they have said, because he had nowhere else to go.

Some of the videos and text messages have already been shown to the jury that will decide Valva’s fate.The text messages, which range from 2019 until the week Thomas died in January 2020, were interspersed with video clips Pollina sent to Valva while he worked an overnight shift as an NYPD transit cop.

The text messages between Valva and Pollina showed that the pair frequently discussed the boys’ sleeping in the garage.

Pollina complained to Valva about the boys’ incontinence problems and said she didn’t want them in the house because of it. But on more than one occasion, Valva referenced the boys not having access to a bathroom.

Two nights before Thomas’ death, on Jan. 15, 2020, Anthony and Thomas were in the garage at 10:42 p.m. and Thomas was awake. The high temperature that day was 51 degrees and the low was 30 degrees, according to prosecutors.

“Gee, seems like he has to go,” Valva texted to Pollina after she sent him a video of Anthony fidgeting on the floor. “If only he had a bathroom.”

Elelven months earlier, on Feb. 24, 2019, at 5:11 p.m., Anthony was seen in a video sitting cross-legged on the garage floor. The low temperature that day was 37 degrees.

Pollina texted Valva a few hours complaining that Anthony was awake and Valva replied: “Not surprised. It’s freezing. He’s on concrete.”

The next day, Valva unleashed on Pollina, writing: “My son is not going to be treated like an outcast anymore. He’s not going to be sleeping on concrete floor. He’s not going to be exiled. I’m not having it anymore.”

Pollina fired back: “If you’re not going to have it anymore than you could take him and you could leave. Not a problem. I’m not having him in this house anymore. ….You’re using his autism as an excuse.”

She continued: “You baby him.”

That night, according to prosecutors, the low temperature was 27 degrees.

Earlier in the day, Flores testified that he heard Valva and Pollina discuss deleting home security video from the system on the day Thomas died. Prosecutors played a clip showing Flores speaking to Valva at 2:46 p.m. on Jan. 17, 2020 — Thomas was pronounced dead about four hours earlier at 10:28 a.m. -- in the living area of his Bittersweet Lane home.

Flores testified that he assured Valva the police department "would attempt to not release anything" about Thomas' death in a "media release" and offered his condolences to Valva and Pollina, who was sitting on the couch next to an NYPD chaplain.

Moments after Flores departed the home, the video showed Pollina rising from the couch and walking over to Valva and telling him she "deleted the history," Flores said.

Valva, standing next to two NYPD officers instructed, her to "Change the password now."

Defense attorney John LoTurco began his cross examination of Flores shortly before court ended on Monday and will continue questioning the Suffolk officer on Tuesday. State Supreme Court Justice William Condon told the jury that they should expect to get the case sometime next week.

Ex-NYPD Officer Michael Valva, who is on trial for allegedly killing his 8-year-old son, Thomas, cried at the close of a police interview after Thomas’ 2020 hypothermia death and was consoled by hospital staff and a chaplain, the lead detective in the case testified Tuesday.

“When I ended the interview, I remember he did cry and put his hand to his face,” said Suffolk Police Sgt. Norberto Flores from the witness stand in a Riverhead courtroom.

Valva’s lead defense attorney John LoTurco, during his cross-examination of Flores, attempted to present a narrative of Valva as a loving father who cooperated with the initial police investigation — a stark alternative to the allegations painted by several prosecution witnesses of an abusive father who lied to investigators and first responders about how Thomas got some injuries the day of his death.

The defense has argued that Valva was a loving, involved father who never intended for his son to die and therefore is not guilty of second-degree murder under the legal theory of depraved indifference. It was Pollina, the defense has argued, that forced the boys to sleep in the garage.

Flores said he interviewed Valva in a “family room” at Long Island Community Hospital in Patchogue beginning about 11:28 a.m. Thomas had been pronounced dead in a nearby hospital trauma room exactly an hour earlier, at 10:28 a.m.

Flores said Valva agreed to speak to him, and was not read his Miranda rights because at that point he was not a suspect and the investigation was noncriminal. Valva was “matter of fact” as he recited the details of what he said happened to Thomas that morning — that Thomas fell on the concrete driveway while running to the school bus, which prosecutors contend is false.

Valva, during that police interview, told Flores that Thomas’ soiled clothing from that morning could be found on the back patio of the home in a plastic bag, Flores testified.

“He voiced no objection to having the officers at his home while he was at the hospital?” LoTurco asked.

“Correct,” Flores responded.

Despite Valva's tears during his police interview, he later texted an NYPD chaplain and someone else about other matters, Flores testified.

“Michael Valva asked Father Franco [the chaplain] if he could help him get a transfer to the property section in Queens,” said Flores when questioned on re-direct by lead prosecutor Kerriann Kelly.

And he texted someone else links to YouTube videos, Flores said.

“I believe they were video game links,” he said.

LoTurco also played the 911 call that Valva made the morning of Thomas’ death — the third time it was played during the trial — and questioned Flores on why investigators didn’t make a transcript of the call, which the defense maintains is favorable evidence for Valva because it shows him trying to save his son’s life.

“The 911 call, I felt, was pretty easy to hear,” Flores said.

LoTurco, while questioning Flores, pointed out a key piece of that video – from about 9:40 a.m. to 9:51 a.m., which was during the time of Valva’s nearly 7-minute 911 call, is missing.

LoTurco also questioned Flores about an alleged sexual relationship between Pollina and Edward Concilio, her cousin by marriage who lived in the Center Moriches home about three days a week in the 15 months leading up to Thomas’ death. Concilio testified earlier at the trial that he was aware the boys slept in the garage but he didn’t confront Pollina about it because he was afraid of her wrath, which the defense has argued mirrored Valva’s own fear of Pollina.

Flores, who had reviewed text messages on the encrypted “WhatsApp” application between Pollina and Concilio, said the pair had an “inappropriate relationship” when asked if the pair had a sexual relationship and were “sexting.”

"Bill Clinton-esque?" LoTurco asked Flores.

Several jurors laughed at the reference to the former president's sex scandal. Supreme Court Justice William Condon sustained a prosecution objection in response to the question.

Eight-year-old Thomas Valva’s autopsy revealed he died of hypothermia and also suffered damage to multiple organs due to prolonged stress, the former Suffolk County medical examiner testified Wednesday at the Riverhead murder trial of the boy’s father, ex-NYPD Officer Michael Valva.

"In my opinion, the cause of Thomas Valva's death was hypothermia," Dr. Michael Caplan said from the witness stand Wednesday.


Caplan said Thomas, who he described as having brown hair cut in a “fade pattern,” hazel eyes with “long eyelashes,” was “thin” at the time of his death and weighed 64 pounds and stood at 4 feet two inches, putting him in the 70th percentile among children his age in terms of weight and the 50th percentile for height. His body mass index, or BMI, was in the 80th to 84th percentile, Caplan testified.

In July 2019, according to medical records Caplan received from a Valley Stream doctor who performed an annual physical evaluation on Thomas, he then stood at 50 inches and weighed 51 pounds.

La Pinta also drew the jury's attention to Caplan's autopsy findings that Thomas was "well developed" and "fairly nourished" as an alternative to testimony from Thomas and Anthony's teachers that they appeared "emaciated" and were always hungry at school. However, the doctor also pointed out that Thomas' ribs and right hip bones were prominent.

"You didn't find that he was emaciated, right?" La Pinta asked.

"That's correct," Caplan said.

La Pinta also attempted to call attention to the level of medical care Thomas received the morning of his death. Asked about possible medical treatments for hypothermia, Caplan agreed a machine to oxygenate the blood can be used for hypothermia patients, as well as those in cardiac arrest.

Thomas was in cardiac arrest when he arrived at the hospital the morning of his death, multiple medical officials have testified. The attending emergency room physician, Dr. Michael Volpe, testified earlier in the trial that the hospital didn't have such a machine that day.

The Suffolk judge in Michael Valva's trial denied a defense request to dismiss a second-degree murder charge against the ex-NYPD officer accused in the death of his 8-year-old son after Suffolk prosecutors rested their case on Thursday morning.

The jury was not present in a Riverhead courtroom when Valva defense attorney Sabato Caponi argued that the prosecution had not presented “legally sufficient” evidence to support the charge that Valva acted with knowledge that there was "a grave risk" of serious injury or death.

Caponi cited testimony from the teachers of Thomas and his older brother, Anthony, 10, which he said was “most dramatic” with respect to Anthony, and said the injuries they described — bruises and scrapes — were not life-threatening. That testimony did not support Valva acting with a state of mind of depraved indifference, which the jury must find in order to convict Valva of second-degree murder, he argued.

It was Angela Pollina who conceived of, orchestrated and implemented having the boys sleep in the garage,” Caponi said during the hearing seeking the charge dismissal, adding it was Valva who “worked to undo” Pollina’s alleged actions, as evidenced by multiple text messages detailing "instances of Michael Valva protesting Angela's treatment of the children.”

At the hearing, Caponi said prosecutors have more than 340 video clips from the Nest camera system at the Valva/Pollina residence in evidence, as well as 6,000 pages of text messages, but he said the prosecution failed to show the jury all of the material, including video and texts showing the times when the boys slept in their upstairs bedroom.

“Angela Pollina chastised Michael Valva for sneaking behind her back and letting them in the house,” Caponi argued.

Lead prosecutor Kerriann Kelly opposed the motion and recounted video evidence that the jury saw of the boys sleeping on the bare garage floor and "shivering."

"He saw it and he knew it and he was the father and did absolutely nothing to stop it," said Kelly, who turned in Valva's direction as she spoke at a lectern mere feet from the defendant.

Valva, seated at the defense table, did not return her gaze.

Kelly then recounted audio evidence that the jury previously heard of Valva interacting with his son the morning of his death.

"Thomas was in the throes of dying and all he could do was scream and yell at his child," Kelly said.

Repeating Valva's words from that morning, as previously played for the jury, Kelly, in a raised voice said: "Are you alive?"

"Slap," the veteran prosecutor said loudly, while clapping her hands together to make the slapping sound heard on the video, which prosecutors contend was Valva striking Thomas.

"Are you alive?" she repeated.

"That's not someone who cares if his child lives or dies," Kelly said, her voice still raised.

A cheer and light clapping from the courtroom gallery could be heard after Supreme Court Justice William Condon, the presiding judge, denied the defense motion. That prompted a stern rebuke from the judge.

“Please refrain from any outbursts,” Condon said. “Both sides here are entitled to a fair trial … I know it’s emotional, we all do. An outburst like that in front of this jury could lead to a mistrial.”

Khwaja, the owner and medical director of Long Island Urgent Care centers in Manorville and West Babylon, said Valva and Pollina brought Thomas to the Manorville facility because the boy had been vomiting for several days and began suffering from diarrhea the day of his examination.

Khwaja cited records prepared by the physician assistant — and subpoenaed by the defense team — that indicated Thomas’ vital signs were normal.

There were no bruises, rashes or injuries apparent on Thomas’ body, Khwaja said, citing the records prepared by her employee. Thomas’ eyes, ears, teeth and gums appeared to be in good health, she said. He was ultimately diagnosed with strep throat and prescribed antibiotics, she said.

Under cross-examination by Kelly, Khwaja acknowledged that she was not present for Thomas’ May 29, 2019, exam and could not speak about Thomas’ demeanor or his interactions with his father and Pollina.

Valva and Pollina did not tell the physician assistant that Thomas had struggled with incontinence or that they forced the boy to wear pullups to school, Khwaja agreed. They did not inform the PA that Thomas was excessively hungry at school, denied access to the bathroom and had been forced to sleep in a tent in the backyard or in the garage, the witness also acknowledged.

They also didn’t tell the physician assistant that Thomas had fallen down a flight of stairs about a month earlier, Khwaja agreed, when asked by Kelly.

Khwaja also said Valva and Pollina asked the physician assistant for a return-to-school note that said Thomas should only be weighed by a pediatrician or an urgent care staffer, which she called “not standard practice.”

Ex-NYPD Officer Michael Valva’s alleged act of bathing his 8-year-old son in a warm bath put him in cardiac arrest, which caused or contributed to his hypothermia death, a defense witness testified at Valva's murder trial on Friday.

“The showering or bathing was the event that most likely caused the cardiac event,” said Dr. Ken Zafren, an Alaska-based emergency medicine physician who has written extensively on hypothermia.

Zafren's opinions on Thomas Valva's condition and the treatment he received the morning he died on Jan. 17, 2020, drawn out by defense attorney Anthony La Pinta, sought to demonstrate the defense theory that Thomas' death was an accident caused when Valva allegedly bathed Thomas in warm water after he had spent the night in an unheated garage in 19-degree weather.

Thomas could have been saved if he received medical intervention for hypothermia, Zafren said. His temperature was 76.1 degrees when it was taken at Long Island Community Hospital in Patchogue minutes before he was pronounced dead at 10:28 a.m.

“He could have been resuscitated for quite some time…hours after,” said Zafren, who was deemed an expert witness by the court, allowing him to offer his opinions.

Zafren, who said he reviewed Thomas' medical records, autopsy report as well as video evidence in the case, said either a warm or hot bath would have caused vasodilation, a constricting of blood vessels, that would have forced Thomas’ blood away from his heart and towards his arms and legs, leaving the heart without any blood to pump and causing the cardiac arrest.

On cross examination, Zafren agreed with lead prosecutor Kerriann Kelly that the paramedics, EMT's, doctors and other medical professionals all tried to save Thomas' life. First responders and hospital staff had attempted several life-saving methods, including giving Thomas multiple doses of epinephrine, a drug to restore cardiac rhythm, and continuing CPR while Thomas was unconscious with no pulse, not breathing and continuing to be in cardiac arrest.

"There was one person that wasn't [trying to save Thomas’ life] and that was Michael Valva because he lied to them, wasn't it?" Kelly asked, pointing at Valva when she said his name.

La Pinta objected and Condon sustained the objection, so Zafren didn’t answer the question.

Kelly also sought to highlight gaps in Zafren’s knowledge of the case and repeatedly expressed surprise at the hypothermia expert’s contention that it didn’t matter what Valva told doctors about what precipitated Thomas falling unconscious.

“It might be important,” said Zafren. “In this case, I don’t think it was.”