Metro

Dad’s rage got son, former Truman football star, killed

Dad Andre Muller (above), wearing a shirt drenched in Isayah's blood, is arraigned yesterday for his role in the brawl with two men that got his son killed.

Dad Andre Muller (above), wearing a shirt drenched in Isayah’s blood, is arraigned yesterday for his role in the brawl with two men that got his son killed. (Robert Kalfus)

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He couldn’t control his temper — and it cost his son his life.

A hotheaded Bronx dad who thought two parking attendants stole his coveted cologne ignited a bloody brawl that left his football-star son dead just hours after his high-school graduation, sources said yesterday.

Isayah Muller, 19, was stabbed to death Tuesday when he rushed to help his dad, Andre, a violent career criminal who allegedly was pummeling an attendant he suspected of stealing the $200 fragrance he kept in his car.

“He died in my arms,” Isayah’s emotional girlfriend, Penny Mentis, told The Post yesterday.

The Truman HS running back’s father was still wearing a shirt drenched in his son’s blood at his arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court yesterday on charges of assault, criminal possession of a weapon and harassment as Isayah’s sobbing mother — who’s pregnant with twins — and 20 other devastated relatives looked on.

Andre later walked from the courtroom in a clean T-shirt after posting $10,000 bond.

Mentis recalled yesterday the tragic chain of events on a day that was supposed to be for celebrating.

She said that after Andre parked his car at around 9:30 a.m. in the MT Jerome Town lot at 2801 Jerome Ave., he doused himself and his son with the expensive cologne for the Truman graduation ceremony at Lehman College.

At about 3:30 p.m., they left the ceremony to head to a family celebration at a City Island restaurant.

After the feast, the group — which included Andre, his son, his wife, Mentis and Isayah’s grandmother — complained they all smelled like their meal of shrimp, lobster and oysters.

Andre reached for the cologne he kept tucked between the driver’s door and seat, but it was gone.

Without telling his family where he was headed, the enraged dad dropped off the grandmother and sped back to the garage.

Andre furiously confronted garage attendants Ramon Hernandez, 51, and Joselin Encarnacion, 32, accusing them of swiping the pricey scent.

“There’s a $200 bottle of cologne missing!” he screamed, sources said. The attendants denied the theft and even let Andre search their office, they told cops.

Andre freaked out when he couldn’t find the cologne and allegedly landed a vicious punch on Hernandez’s jaw and repeatedly pounded him.

The terrified attendant grabbed a chair and machete to ward off the attack, but the raging ex-con then picked up a shovel and struck Hernandez, leaving a deep gash on his arm, cops said.

Encarnacion pulled a homemade knife and jumped in to protect his pal, cops said.

Mentis, feeling nauseated after the meal, said Isayah at first stayed in the car holding her hand, but became concerned that his father was taking too long.

Seeing his father fighting with the attendants, Isayah rushed to protect his dad — and Encarnacion allegedly stabbed the teen once in the chest, piercing his heart.

Andre gave up the fight and hurried his wounded son back to the car.

“[Isayah] just said, ‘Mom, let’s go home,’ ” a tearful Mentis said.

Then Mentis noticed the blood.

“His eyes rolled back in his head, he threw up, he seemed to lose consciousness,” she said.

Andre sped to a clinic about 10 blocks away, with Mentis cradling Isayah’s head, but his wounds were too severe to be treated there. He was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he died at around 6 p.m.

Andre, prosecutors said, fled from the hospital when cops arrived to investigate, but he was arrested later, after he returned to check on his son.

One of the parking attendants, Hernandez, told The Post he and his colleague were just fighting for their lives.

“I was trying to hold the shovel back. If not, [Andre] would have killed me,” he said through a Spanish translator.

He said he grabbed the machete intending only to scare Andre.

“We have a machete in case of emergencies. I wanted to scare him, so I took the machete and swung it at him to scare him and not to hit him,” he said.

Cops recovered the shovel and homemade knife in the lot and the machete from the office.

Some of the brawl — but not the actual stabbing — was caught on the lot’s surveillance video.

Police interviewed the attendants, who have no prior criminal records, at the 52nd Precinct station house, but they were not charged. A Bronx grand jury will make the determination.

Hernandez said he regretted that Isayah was killed — but blamed the elder Muller for the fight.

“I feel very sad about what happened. I feel that they were the reason for what happened,” he said.

Andre Muller has a lengthy rap sheet and was once wanted for a North Carolina murder, although the charge was later dropped due to a lack of evidence.

He did two stretches in New York prisons — from 1992-1997, for a gunpoint robbery in Manhattan, and from 2000-2006, for selling heroin to an undercover cop. He also has prior arrests for drug possession, robbery and reckless endangerment.

At a vigil for his slain son last night, Andre sobbed to a relative, “We didn’t let it happen. We didn’t let him die.

“They took my boy, they took my boy. He was a good kid, I’m going to miss him every day.”

Isayah’s death brought a tragic end to a promising football career and was heartbreaking for his devastated classmates.

“He was a loyal kid. If you were ever in trouble, he had your back,” said Truman quarterback Xavier Hamilton. “That was the kind of person he was.”

Lineman Nico Almodovar, who graduated with Isayah, added, “Knowing him and how he loved his family, he backed up his father.”

About 250 students, teachers and friends gathered for a memorial service under the goalposts yesterday morning at Truman’s field, where Isayah ran for 295 yards and two touchdowns in the title game just months earlier.

Additional reporting by Larry Celona, Jamie Schram, Joe Mollica, Reuven Fenton, Kirstan Conley, Len Maniace and Erin Calabrese

perry.chiaramonte@nypost.com