James Dixon (left), said that he had been flirting with Islan Nettles (right)
A man has killed a transgender woman he was flirting with after suddenly discovering that she really was trans. James Dixon, a young man from Brooklyn, has been charged with beating a woman, Islan Nettles, to death in Harlem. He told police he 'didn't want to be fooled' after he realized he had been flirting with a transgender woman.
According to Daily Mail, Dixon, 25, told prosecutors that he had been flirting with 21-year-old Nettles moments before the attack and was unaware that she was transgender.
Dixon at first denied he was trying to 'holler' at Nettles before the fatal encounter until NYPD Detective Thaddeus Hall called his bluff during a 2013 interrogation, according to the New York Daily News.
'There's something that leads up to the altercation. 'Did you try to holler at her?' Hall said.
Dixon said in the interview that he became enraged when one of his friends taunted him, saying, 'That's a guy'.
'I just remember lashing out,' he said.
Dixon agreed that he felt his 'manhood' was threatened by his streak of unknowingly hitting on transgender women.
He is charged with manslaughter and assault in the August 17, 2013 death of Nettles, who was attacked just after midnight outside a police station at 147th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard.
A videotape of Dixon's confession was played during a pretrial hearing Friday to determine if his confession could be used as evidence at his trial next week, according to The New York Times.
Prosecutors say Nettles died of head injuries she sustained when her head hit the pavement as Dixon hit her. She was taken off life support after a week in a coma.
In his confession Dixon said he pushed himself away from Nettles, and started to walk away, but she then shoved him from behind, forcing him to trip.
After getting back to his feet, he said he hit her and knocked her to the sidewalk. He then punched her a second time as she lay on the ground.
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