A jury awarded $176 million to the family of two young boys killed by Los Angeles socialite Rebecca Grossman, finding both her and her former professional baseball player lover liable for the deadly crash.
Grossman and her former boyfriend Scott Erickson were both found negligent in the death of 11-year-old Mark and 8-year-old Jacob Iskander on Wednesday. The jury determined $176 million in damages. She will also be on the hook for punitive damages, to be determined Thursday.
Grossman, who was convicted of murder for killing the two young boys with her car during a chase with Erickson, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison in 2024.
Rebecca Grossman was convicted of hitting two young brothers with her car. Instagram/@isknanThe California appeals court, in a decision in March, rejected Grossman’s final bid to overturn her conviction and kept her behind bars with no early release and no reprieve.
The tragedy unfolded in 2020 when Grossman’s SUV slammed into Mark and Jacob in a marked crosswalk.
Former MLB player Scott Erickson took the stand in the wrongful death trial. NBC LA
Former Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson MLB via Getty Images
Rebecca Grossman, her husband and daughter leaving the Van Nuys West Court House. Barbara Davidson for NY PostAlso drawing scrutiny was Erickson, a former Major League Baseball pitcher who was driving a separate car nearby, raising questions about whether the pair had been speeding together. Erickson, however, was never charged.
Erickson finally addressed the tragedy when he took the stand last month in the wrongful death trial.
He testified that he sped up when he spotted two young boys in a Westlake Village crosswalk moments before they were fatally struck in 2020.
Mark and Jacob Iskander were mowed down as their mother looked on. Mark and Jacob Foundation“I stepped on the gas for probably two or three seconds to get through, because I thought that was the safest process,” Erickson told the Van Nuys courtroom on May 13 during the wrongful death trial tied to the deaths of Mark and Jacob.
Just after 7 p.m. September 29, 2020, the boys were crossing Triunfo Canyon Road with their mother and younger brother when witnesses saw cars racing toward them.
The intersection where the two boys were killed. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Mark and Jacob FoundationErickson, behind the wheel of a black SUV, reached the crosswalk first. Moments later, 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, the mother of the two boys, 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.
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Grossman leaves her criminal trial with her children. Barbara Davidson for NY PostSteamy WhatsApp messages between Grossman and Erickson show the couple coordinating their stories while exchanging “I love yous” as prosecutors attempted to unravel what happened on the night the socialite mowed down the two little boys in the crosswalk.
The socialite struck the boys with such force that the older brother flew more than 250 feet.
