A high school football player came to his mother’s defense, choking to death her ex-boyfriend after he attacked her in their Bronx apartment early Monday, sources said.
Luis Moux, 18, was in his bedroom at 4:30 a.m. when his 37-year-old mother and her ex were arguing in the hallway outside the University Heights apartment, where the boyfriend showed up to talk to her.
When the mother retreated into her apartment, the 43-year-old man, Stanley Washington, followed and began beating her, sources said.
Moux, a 220-pound offensive lineman on his high school football team, came rushing out and pulled the man off his mother, Lorena Sesma. As the two were struggling, the teen wrapped his arm around Washington’s neck.
It was unclear if Washington was strangled while the teen was pulling him off his mother or after.
Sesma briefly passed out, sources said, and awoke to find her son standing over her ex. Sources said the teen and Washington are about the same size.
Moux was taken into custody and charged with manslaughter as cops mulled whether the attack was self-defense.
“It’s not crystal clear,” a police source said. “It’s not cut and dry. There was a battle going on back and forth. It could be self-defense, but that hasn’t been decided yet.”
A friend of the teen’s said Sesma and Washington fought often. A source added that Washington was involved in two incidents at the University Ave. building where police were called. In 2014, cops were called to break up a dispute. In 2016, sources said the ex-boyfriend assaulted Sesma and beat up an older woman who was in the apartment at the time.
A small group gathered outside Washington’s home later Monday. Several white memorial candles were lit and placed against the wall of the building.
“We just heard the news and we’re not ready to talk about it just yet,” said a man who would only identify himself as a relative.
Moux is a student at Grand Street Campus High School, a charter school in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
His Facebook page is filled with pictures of him in his football pads and uniform.
Another neighbor, Angel Nives, 65, described Luis as a good kid.
“He’s a school kid, a good student not involved with drugs or hanging out with bad people,” Nives said.
“He loves playing basketball and football with his friends over in the next building. When I heard the news, I didn’t expect it to be him, but he was right to defend his mother.”