Ex-MLB Pitcher Was Street Racing Socialite Pal When 2 Boys Were Killed: Police
Months after a fatal hit-and-run took the lives of two boys in Los Angeles County’s Westlake Village, former Major League Baseball pitcher Scott Erickson has been charged with a misdemeanor count of reckless driving in connection with the crime.
Investigators told ABC7 that Erickson was racing socialite Rebecca Grossman moments before she fatally struck 11-year-old Mark Iskander and his 8-year-old brother Jacob on September 29.
Grossman allegedly kept driving her Mercedes Benz for about a quarter mile before the engine stopped working, the Orange County Register reports.
Mark and Jacob Iskander were killed as they crossed the road.
Police arrested her that night, and in December she was charged with two felony counts of murder, two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, and one felony count of hit-and-run driving resulting in death. She was later released on $2 million bond.
The boys had been crossing the street with their parents at a marked crosswalk. After Grossman allegedly hit the pair, she dragged one for 100 feet on her car hood before hitting the brakes. When the boy then fell off of the car, Grossman allegedly ran over him again as she kept driving.
Mark died at the scene, and Jacob later died in the hospital.
Erickson, who pitched for teams including the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers during his 15-season MLB career, and Grossman, a prominent local philanthropist, are close personal friends, according to local newspaper the Thousand Oaks Acorn.
Sources told the paper that the two are fixtures on the local bar circuit, and people who know pair added that on the night of the accident Erickson and Grossman were driving separate vehicles to the same home in Westlake Village.
Grossman, former Westlake Magazine publisher and co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation, is reportedly married to prominent plastic surgeon Dr. Peter Grossman.
Investigators initially said they suspected Grossman had been driving under the influence of alcohol however authorities have not charged her with DUI.
A statement from the district attorney’s office given to the Acorn read, in part, “The assigned prosecutors in this case filed the charges they believe were legally appropriate based on the evidence before them at the time of filing.”
If convicted, Grossman faces up to 34 years in jail, the Register reports, adding that she was released from jail on bond October 1—with the condition that she abstain from driving.
Erickson’s charge, meanwhile, carries up to 90 days in jail and/or a $1,000 fine, per the Acorn. He is due in court on March 16 for arraignment.
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