As deputies questioned Rebecca Grossman on the evening of the crash that left two younger brothers useless in Westlake Village, her then-lover was close by, hiding behind a tree, Grossman’s daughter testified Friday.
Alexis Grossman advised jurors that the person in query, former Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson, confirmed as much as the household’s house shortly thereafter. She mentioned he smelled of alcohol, and threatened her and her household if she advised investigators what she had seen.
“Why did your mother cease? Why did your mother cease?” she mentioned Erickson advised her. “He appeared very offended. He was frantic. I may odor alcohol on him. He was freaking out. I used to be scared.”
She mentioned he gave her a warning: “Don’t inform anybody you noticed me, or I’ll break you and your loved ones.”
Alexis Grossman’s tearful testimony was offered to bolster the protection argument that Erickson — not her mom — was the primary to hit Mark and Jacob Iskander as they made their means throughout a marked crosswalk on Triunfo Canyon Highway on Sept. 29, 2020.
Erickson, 56, has denied any wrongdoing. He was initially charged with misdemeanor reckless driving after the crash, however that was dismissed after he made a public service announcement concerning the significance of secure driving.
Mark and Jacob Iskander.
(Iskander Household)
Rebecca Grossman, 60, is charged with two counts of second-degree homicide, two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, and one rely of hit-and-run driving leading to demise.
On the evening of the crash, Alexis Grossman was heading to satisfy a pizza supply particular person when she noticed her mom’s Mercedes surrounded by police automobiles, she mentioned.
“I ran out towards her. I used to be screaming, ‘Mommy, mommy,” she testified. However a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division deputy blocked her path and advised her she couldn’t strategy.
It was then, as she turned away, she mentioned, that she noticed Erickson in some bushes behind a tree. Utilizing a pointer, the 19-year-old confirmed the courtroom the realm at 3701 Triunfo Canyon Highway the place she mentioned she noticed him.
“He was poking his head out and we made eye contact,” she testified.
Authorities had advised her to depart the scene, and so she did, she mentioned — driving a brief distance to her household’s house in Westlake Village. Shortly after she arrived, Erickson burst in, she testified.
Throughout questioning, Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Ryan Gould requested why she had not advised officers on the scene about Erickson.
“I want I had as a result of, if I had, we wouldn’t be right here proper now,” she replied.
Alexis Grossman mentioned she advised her mother and father — who had been separated on the time of the crash — in 2021 what she had seen. She mentioned her mom’s lawyer on the time suggested her to not inform anybody.
That very same yr, Alexis Grossman met with prosecutors, and Gould requested her to recall what she had advised him when requested whether or not Erickson had made it to the Westlake Village home that evening. She replied that she believes she mentioned no.
“I wasn’t attempting to guard anybody,” she mentioned between tears. “He was an enormous man, a baseball participant … I used to be scared.”
As courtroom adjourned, she and her mom hugged and sobbed.
Alexis Grossman’s testimony capped an emotional day in courtroom, one which additionally noticed her mom, in a candid and tearful change with a reporter, accuse prosecutors of not caring about attending to the underside of what occurred.
The temporary comment got here because the trial broke for lunch — shortly after prosecutors interrupted a line of questioning barred by pretrial movement beneath Part 402 of California’s proof code, which excludes prejudicial proof.
“In the event that they had been truth-seekers, why have they got so many 402 motions?” Rebecca Grossman requested a Instances reporter who was within the viewers.
Prosecutors have repeatedly accused Grossman’s lead legal professional, Tony Buzbee, of attempting to get in proof barred earlier than the trial started — usually in testy exchanges with opposing counsel.
They objected once more Friday when Gould requested the decide to cease Buzbee’s questioning of a protection collision professional.
Prosecutors allege that Grossman struck the 11- and 8-year-old boys whereas driving behind Erickson after the 2 had been having cocktails at an area restaurant.
Buzbee, nevertheless, has maintained from the outset of the trial that it was a Mercedes pushed by Erickson — not his shopper’s automobile — that first hit the brothers.
Cam Cope, a crash reconstructionist based mostly in Texas, testified to that finish Friday. Based mostly on his evaluation of the scene, Cope mentioned, it was Erickson’s black Mercedes SUV that hit the boys — Mark being launched over his automobile and onto the hood of Grossman’s white Mercedes, which was following behind.
Below that situation, Cope mentioned, there wouldn’t be something the particular person within the second automotive may do.
“That’s what the details are on this case,” he mentioned.
However Gould sought to discredit Cope’s evaluation, citing earlier testimony.
On the time of the crash, the boys’ mom Nancy Iskander mentioned she was carrying inline skates as she started to cross Triunfo Canyon Highway at Saddle Mountain Drive. Her youngest son, Zachary, was subsequent to her on his scooter; with Mark, on a skateboard, and Jacob, carrying inline skates, forward within the marked crosswalk.
Iskander testified she noticed Erickson’s automotive undergo the crosswalk and rescued her 5-year-old from its path earlier than seeing her older boys vanish after Grossman’s automobile went by.
One other witness, Susan Manners, testified she noticed a baby hit within the left lane. Two different witnesses, Yasamin Eftekhari and Jake Sands, additionally testified that Grossman hit a boy within the left lane.
Cope mentioned not one of the statements modified his conclusion that the black automotive initially hit the 2 boys.
Justin Shaw, an accident reconstruction professional testifying for the protection, mentioned he, too, believes it was the black Mercedes that hit the boys first — although he acknowledged an absence of bodily proof.
When pressed by Gould, Shaw mentioned the report he ready for the case didn’t state Erickson’s automobile hit the boys.
“Absent an inspection of the automobile in entrance of the Grossman Mercedes, there isn’t a means of figuring out what automobile struck the boys,” he mentioned, including that there’s testimony suggesting the black Mercedes hit the boys first.
Shaw additionally mentioned an examination of video shot 360 toes from the crosswalk confirmed Erickson was driving a 2016 Mercedes GL 63 AMG, not a 2007 Mercedes SUV as he advised investigators. Shaw mentioned he based mostly that conclusion on the automobile’s lights.
Rebecca Grossman’s Mercedes SUV is proven after the 2020 crash within the Westlake crosswalk.
(Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division)
He additionally disputed earlier testimony relating to how briskly Grossman was touring on the time of the crash — in addition to “black field” knowledge from her automobile that confirmed she was dashing, at as much as 81 mph, on the quiet residential avenue. Investigators have testified she was going 73 mph when she fatally struck the boys.
Based mostly on his evaluation, Shaw estimated she was going a lot slower, about 49 mph. Grossman additionally couldn’t have floored the accelerator as indicated by the black field, he mentioned, as a result of if she had she would have been going a lot quicker than the information present — which means some aspect of the information is inaccurate.
Shaw additionally mentioned an L.A. County sheriff’s deputy who calculated the estimated automobile velocity based mostly on Mark’s physique being thrown 254 toes down the highway was incorrect. For the reason that boy “was hit by one other automotive after Mrs. Grossman,” he mentioned, “the throw calculation is off.”
