Former MLB pitcher Scott Erickson testified this week that he hit sped up when he spotted two young boys in a Westlake Village crosswalk moments before they were fatally struck in 2020.
“I stepped on the gas for probably two or three seconds to get through, because I thought that was the safest process,” Erickson told a Van Nuys courtroom on May 13 during the wrongful death trial tied to the deaths of brothers Mark and Jacob Iskander, 11 and 8.
Just after 7 p.m. on September 29, 2020, the boys were crossing Triunfo Canyon Road with their mother and younger brother when witnesses saw cars racing toward them. Erickson, behind the wheel of a black SUV, reached the crosswalk first. Moments later, Rebecca Grossman, his girlfriend at the time, allegedly plowed through in her white Mercedes, striking and killing the children.
Grossman, co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation and wife of plastic surgeon Dr. Peter Grossman, was allegedly driving 73 mph in a 45-mph zone when the crash occurred.
Nancy Iskander said she grabbed her youngest son and dove out of the way of Erickson’s SUV before seeing Grossman’s vehicle speed through where Mark and Jacob had been standing.
Erickson testified he was traveling between 50 and 55 mph, though he admitted, under questioning from attorney Brian Panish, that the estimate was uncertain.
“So you’re just guessing what your speed was?” Panish asked.
“Yes, I am,” Erickson replied.
After passing through the intersection, Erickson said he continued to Grossman’s nearby home before receiving a call from her moments later, saying something terrible had happened.
“Did you see the boys?” he recalled asking.
He testified Grossman may have responded with something like “the boys,” though he later acknowledged she also may have said, “what boys?” or “there were boys?”
Erickson said he then ran back toward the crash scene, stopping when he saw Grossman’s wrecked SUV and watching from the roadside while making calls to former MLB player Royce Clayton and others.
In 2024, a jury found Grossman guilty of two felony counts of murder, two felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, and one felony count of hit-and-run driving resulting in death.
Steamy WhatsApp messages between the two reckless drivers show the couple coordinating their stories while exchanging “I love yous” as prosecutors previously tried to unravel what happened on the night the socialite mowed down two little boys in a crosswalk.
The messages between the convicted killer and ex-MLB pitcher emerged in a bombshell civil lawsuit over the horrific crash.
Spanning four years, the messages — now part of the Iskanders’ wrongful death lawsuit — show the lovers in constant contact, even as Grossman’s defense claimed Erickson was the one behind the wheel that killed the boys.
The messages surfaced as Grossman fought to overturn her double murder conviction. She was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
In March, her hopes were dashed when a California appeals court rejected her final attempt to reverse the 2024 verdict, ensuring she remains behind bars.