Jury Returns Conviction in Boys' Crosswalk Deaths

Prosecutors say Rebecca Grossman had been racing former MLB player after drinks
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 1, 2021 10:49 AM CST
Updated Feb 24, 2024 4:35 PM CST
Ex-Pitcher Charged in Boys' Crosswalk Deaths
A 2005 photo of former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson   (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
UPDATE Feb 24, 2024 4:35 PM CST

A Southern California woman has been found guilty in the deaths of two young brothers who were in a crosswalk when Rebecca Grossman's car struck them in 2020. A jury convicted her of two counts of murder, two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter, and one count of hit-and-run, the Los Angeles Times reports. At sentencing in April, Grossman could receive a term of 34 years to life in prison. Prosecutors said Grossman was racing former MLB pitcher Scott Erickson, with whom she'd had cocktails, when she hit the boys. Erickson was charged with reckless driving, per the AP, but the count was dropped after he made a public service announcement about safe driving.

Feb 1, 2021 10:49 AM CST

Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson has been charged with reckless driving in connection to a hit-and-run in Southern California that killed two boys last year, per the AP. The Los Angeles District Attorney's Office said Erickson, 52, has been charged with one misdemeanor count of reckless driving. Investigators tell KABC-TV he was racing with Rebecca Grossman on Sept. 29, moments before she struck and killed 11-year-old Mark Iskander and his 8-year-old brother, Jacob, as they crossed the street in Westlake Village, a suburb 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. The boys were crossing the street in a marked crosswalk with their parents. Prosecutors alleged that Grossman continued driving, eventually stopping about a quarter-mile from the crash scene.

Grossman, 57, pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, and hit-and-run driving resulting in death. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 34 years to life in state prison. Grossman, a philanthropist whose Grossman Burn Foundation supports burn survivors, is free on $2 million bail. Erickson is scheduled to be arraigned March 16. Besides pitching for the Dodgers, he played for the Minnesota Twins, Baltimore Orioles, and New York Yankees from 1991 to 2006.

(More hit-and-run stories.)

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