NCC-bound football star slain in Bronx

Isayah Muller, a Bronx high school football star who was expected to play this fall for Nassau Community College in Garden City, was fatally stabbed in a fight with parking attendants after his graduation ceremony in northwest Bronx, police said.

The fight was about whether the two parking attendants had stolen expensive cologne, a celebratory gift, from the backseat of the family's car on Tuesday, police said.

His father, Andre Muller, pleaded not guilty to charges of assault and weapons possession Wednesday, accused of instigating the fight in a parking lot near Lehman College and hitting one of the attendants with a shovel, prosecutors said. The wound required at least 10 stitches and the argument was captured on video surveillance, prosecutors said.

The father agreed to testify before a grand jury weighing evidence on whether the parking attendants should face charges. His lawyer didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.

Isayah Muller, 19, a star running back who led his team to the Public Schools Athletic League championship, was rushed to a clinic Tuesday by his family and girlfriend and later pronounced dead, said Paul Browne, the New York Police Department's chief spokesman.

Muller was a star at Harry S. Truman High School in the Bronx and ran for more than 280 yards and two touchdowns in the school's 23-20 victory over Beach Channel in the PSAL championship game this year.

Nassau Community College assistant football coach Curtis Guilliam told Newsday he had been in contact with Muller earlier on the day of the stabbing and they had discussed taking the placement exams and paperwork.

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"He was excited to come here and attend college," Guilliam said. "He was a smart young man . . . an athlete who could play here and graduate and then possibly go on to a Division I school."