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Man Arrested In Fatal Beating Of Transgender Woman Islan Nettles
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Mar 3, 2015
Modified Mar 3, 2015
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Mar 3, 2015
Modified Mar 3, 2015
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The NYPD has arrested a suspect they believe beat transgender woman Islan Nettles to death in Harlem in August 2013.
Today, both the NYPD and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. announced the arrest of James Dixon, a 24-year-old Brooklyn resident they believe is responsible for Nettles's death. Nettles, 21, died a few days after she was brutally beaten by a group of men in Harlem on the night of August 17th, 2013; she reportedly got into an argument with them after they yelled homophobic and transphobic slurs and her and her friends, and was attacked. Initially, the NYPD arrested 20-year-old Paris Wilson, but homicide charges against him were dropped in November 2013 after a second suspect reportedly confessed.
Dixon has been charged with manslaughter and felony assault. The DA's office alleges that Nettles died after he punched her, whereupon she fell to the ground, hit her head on the pavement on suffered a fatal brain injury. "Over the past 18 months, my Office has exhaustively investigated this case with the primary objective of making sure that justice is served for Islan Nettles,” DA Vance said in a statement today. "A grand jury has voted to indict James Dixon on charges of manslaughter and assault for attacking this young transgender woman on a Harlem street. Her serious injuries caused her death days later."
The DA's office tells us Dixon was remanded today, and will be back in court on March 19th.
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islan nettles
james dixon
senseless murder
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Rebecca Fishbein
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