Paramedic testifies Michael Valva showed 'no emotion' as first responders tried to revive his 8-year-old son

A paramedic who responded to Thomas Valva’s Center Moriches home on the morning of his 2020 hypothermia death testified Thursday that the boy's father showed no emotion as on-scene medical professionals tried in vain to save the 8-year-old's life.

"There was no crying; most parents cry and freak out in a situation like that," said paramedic Erin Lambert, referring to Thomas' father, Michael Valva. "There was none of that."

James King, her EMT partner who also responded to Valva's 911 call, testified that the ex-NYPD officer changed his story about what happened to Thomas, first saying Thomas hit his head on a doorway and then saying Thomas fell outside.

"There were two different stories in less than a minute," said King, who added that Valva had an "extremely calm" demeanor after his son was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The paramedic and EMT testified Thursday on the second day of testimony in Michael Valva's murder trial in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead as prosecutors also displayed for the jury an autopsy photograph of Thomas with visible injuries to his face. Neither Valva nor members of the jury had any visible reactions to the photo.

Valva, 43, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and child endangerment charges in Thomas' Jan. 17, 2020, death and the alleged abuse of his older brother Anthony, then 10. Both boys were on the autism spectrum but were high-functioning, prosecutors have said.

Prosecutors have alleged that Valva, an ex-NYPD officer, and his then-fiancee, Angela Pollina, 45, forced Thomas to sleep in the garage when the temperature was just 19 degrees. Before Thomas died from hypothermia, prosecutors said, he had spent 16 hours in the unheated garage. The boys not only slept in the garage for months before Thomas' death, it was also where they ate and did their homework, prosecutors said.

The boys also were beaten, verbally abused and starved, leading them to scrounge for food in the garbage can of their elementary school, prosecutors have said. Pollina is expected to be tried separately.

Valva's attorneys have alleged that Valva never expected his son would die from sleeping in the garage and only agreed to the arrangement to appease Pollina, who grew increasingly frustrated with the two boys' incontinence issues.

Emotional testimony

On the day Thomas died, scores of Suffolk County police cars closed traffic to expedite the ambulance carrying Thomas to Long Island Community Hospital in East Patchogue. The boy was "abnormally cold" and "freezing," said Lambert, who added that she thought the boy was already dead when she arrived.

"The minute I laid eyes on him, I knew he wasn't alive," Lambert said.

Valva remained emotionless after Thomas was pronounced dead inside a hospital trauma room, Lambert said.

"There were no tears, there was no emotion," said Lambert, who testified that she was also in the trauma room when Thomas was pronounced dead.

A hospital staff member then asked Valva if he needed anything, Lambert said. "He turned and said, 'No, I've been in more stressful situations,'" said Lambert, who teared up and wiped her eyes with a tissue. King testified that he heard Valva make the same comment. 

Lambert, under questioning by Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Kerriann Kelly, also described visible injuries on Thomas' body as shown in the autopsy photo. Lambert said it showed swelling and light bruising on his forehead and scrapes on the bridge of his nose.

King also testified that he witnessed what appeared to be Valva informing Pollina, who was seated in a wheelchair, of Thomas’ death. King said Valva knelt down and spoke to Pollina, who then let out “two wails.”

Valva attorneys Anthony La Pinta and John LoTurco, who cross-examined Lambert and King respectively, attempted to point out inconsistencies in their stories. Both witnesses admitted they had not previously told authorities that they thought Thomas was already dead when they arrived at his home, an assertion they both testified to in direct testimony Thursday.

After court Thursday, La Pinta said the testimony alleging that Valva was emotionless was of little value. 

"We don't think that evidence is worth much consideration at all," La Pinta said. "To say that that's relative information to prove depravity in this case is actually ridiculous. Everybody knows that people react differently to different circumstances. Sometimes people react emotionally, sometimes people clam up. People are just in shock, so the value of that evidence to me is irrelevant."   

Nursing assistant, officer testify

Also testifying Thursday was Danielle Ryden, a nursing assistant at the hospital who said Thomas was “ice cold” upon arrival. Ryden said she “yelled for someone to bring me warm blankets,” and she wrapped them around Thomas.

Ryden said Thomas’ temperature was 76.1 degrees at 10:18 a.m. and remained so 10 minutes later when he was pronounced dead. She, too, said Valva didn’t react. “He remained pretty much expressionless,” Ryden said.

A member of the Suffolk County Police Department’s crime scene unit, in testimony Thursday, raised further questions about Valva’s claim that Thomas had fallen while waiting for the school bus the morning he died. Prosecutors have called Valva’s story a lie.

Officer Jodi Rios, a 35-year SCPD veteran, testified that Valva’s next-door neighbor showed the officer video from her home security system of children running down Valva’s driveway earlier that morning toward a school bus. None of the children in the video, Rios said, fell or appeared injured.

Rios also testified that she photographed the exterior and interior of the home, including a red stain on the floor of the garage where Thomas slept before his death. Rios said she also recovered a white towel with a red stain from the garage.

Rios said she also found a white shopping bag on the backyard patio at the Bittersweet Lane home that contained what appeared to be Thomas’ clothing, including two black socks, a long-sleeve T-shirt, jeans and sneakers. The clothing was frozen, she said, with visible crystals on the material.

Dozens of photographs taken by Rios, including photos of the Valva home, as well as the clothing and other items, were entered into evidence and shown to the jury. The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office and the trial judge, Suffolk Supreme Court Justice William Condon, have declined to release the images to the news media.

The trial continues on Monday.