An 8-year-old autistic boy died after allegedly being locked in a freezing cold garage overnight by his police officer father, according to an article published on gothamnist.com.
Officer Michael Valva and his fiancée Angela Pollina were charged with second-degree murder after the Suffolk County Medical Examiner found that hypothermia greatly contributed to the death of their child.
Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy Sini called the boy's death "one of the worst crimes I've ever seen."
"The depravity of these defendants is shocking," he added. "They caused the death of this little boy, and then they watched him die."
"Thomas Valva was subjected to freezing temperatures in the home's unheated garage overnight when the temperature was 19 degrees," said the Suffolk County police commissioner Geraldine Hart.
According to the Office of Children and Family Services, a complaint was recorded in February of 2019 after the boy was allegedly forced to sleep in the garage because of his continual bedwetting.
Photo Credit: Getty Images