Grossman trial: Daughter testifies Erickson threatened her after fatal crash

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 dwelling shortly thereafter. She stated 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 stated Erickson advised her. “He appeared very offended. He was frantic. I might scent alcohol on him. He was freaking out. I used to be scared.”

She stated he gave her a warning: “Don’t inform anybody you noticed me, or I’ll spoil 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 approach 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.

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 dying.

On the evening of the crash, Alexis Grossman was heading to satisfy a pizza supply individual when she noticed her mom’s Mercedes surrounded by police vehicles, she stated.

“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 method.

It was then, as she turned away, she stated, 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 stated 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 stated — driving a brief distance to her household’s dwelling 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 stated she advised her dad and mom — who have been separated on the time of the crash — in 2021 what she had seen. She stated her mom’s lawyer on the time suggested her to not inform anybody.

That very same 12 months, 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 stated no.

“I wasn’t making an attempt to guard anybody,” she stated between tears. “He was a giant man, a baseball participant … I used to be scared.”

As court docket adjourned, she and her mom hugged and sobbed.

Alexis Grossman’s testimony capped an emotional day in court docket, 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 have 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 making an attempt to get in proof barred earlier than the trial started — typically in testy exchanges with opposing counsel.

They objected once more Friday when Gould requested the choose to cease Buzbee’s questioning of a protection collision knowledgeable.

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, nonetheless, has maintained from the outset of the trial that it was a Mercedes pushed by Erickson — not his shopper’s car — that first hit the brothers.

Cam Cope, a crash reconstructionist primarily based in Texas, testified to that finish Friday. Based mostly on his evaluation of the scene, Cope stated, it was Erickson’s black Mercedes SUV that hit the boys — Mark being launched over his car and onto the hood of Grossman’s white Mercedes, which was following behind.

Underneath that state of affairs, Cope stated, there wouldn’t be something the individual within the second automotive might do.

“That’s what the info are on this case,” he stated.

However Gould sought to discredit Cope’s evaluation, citing earlier testimony.

On the time of the crash, the boys’ mom Nancy Iskander stated 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 car went via.

One other witness, Susan Manners, testified she noticed a toddler 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 stated not one of the statements modified his conclusion that the black automotive initially hit the 2 boys.

Justin Shaw, an accident reconstruction knowledgeable testifying for the protection, stated he, too, believes it was the black Mercedes that hit the boys first — although he acknowledged a scarcity of bodily proof.

When pressed by Gould, Shaw stated the report he ready for the case didn’t state Erickson’s car hit the boys.

“Absent an inspection of the car in entrance of the Grossman Mercedes, there is no such thing as a approach of understanding what car struck the boys,” he stated, including that there’s testimony suggesting the black Mercedes hit the boys first.

Shaw additionally stated 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 stated he primarily based that conclusion on the car’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” information from her car that confirmed she was speeding, at up to 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 stated, as a result of if she had she would have been going a lot sooner than the information present — which means some aspect of the information is wrong.

Shaw additionally stated an L.A. County sheriff’s deputy who calculated the estimated car pace primarily based on Mark’s physique being thrown 254 toes down the highway was incorrect. Because the boy “was hit by one other automotive after Mrs. Grossman,” he stated, “the throw calculation is off.”