A bizarre and tragic confrontation in a Bedford Park parking lot in late June left a star high school football player stabbed to death and his father charged with assault.
After attending his high school commencement ceremony at Lehman College, on Tuesday, June 28, Isayah Muller, 19, a star running back for the Truman High School Mustangs, and his family, left M.T. Jerome Town Corp. Parking Lot at Jerome Avenue and 198th Street.
While heading to City Island for a celebratory dinner, police say Isayah’s father, Andre Muller, discovered that an expensive bottle of cologne was missing from the car. He immediately turned the car around and went back to the parking lot to confront the attendants.
Surveillance video from the parking lot shows Andre Muller growing increasingly angry with a pair of parking attendants who allowed Muller to search their drawers and personal bags. At one point, Muller punches one of the attendants. He then throws a bicycle and charges at them with snow shovel, while Isayah looks on.
After departing briefly, both Andre Muller and Isayah come charging back into the attendant booth, fists flying. One attendant is shown wielding a machete. Video then shows the two Mullers leaving abruptly. It is at this point, police say, that one of the attendants pierced Isayah’s heart with a makeshift knife.
With Isayah’s mother and girlfriend in the car, Andre Muller rushed Isayah to a nearby clinic. He was later transferred to St. Barnabas, where he died.
The teen’s father was arrested the following day and charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon. He was not charged in his son’s death and pleaded not guilty to the charges. No charges are expected to be filed against the parking attendants.
Meanwhile, Andre’s attorney, Lawrence Fredella, told Fox News that viewers were not given the entire surveillance video, so the entire story has yet to be told.
An employee answering the phone at M.T. Jerome Town Corp. said, “The two guys that were here, worked by themselves here, OK. The police took the surveillance tape, so no one here knows what happened.”
Isayah, who helped lead the Truman football team to the city public school championship last season with 15 touchdowns and 908 yards, was hoping to attend Nassau Community College in the fall. Instead, he was laid to rest on July 7 at St. Raymond’s Cemetery.
Andre Muller will be back in court in August to answer to the assault and weapons charges.