Former Los Angeles Dodger pitcher Scott Erickson blamed his ex-lover, wealthy Los Angeles socialite Rebecca Grossman, for the deaths of two boys ages 11 and 8 in a new court filing obtained by the Daily Mail newspaper. Grossman was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder in 2024 for the incident four years earlier in which she killed brothers Mark and Jacob Iksander who were crossing a street in the Westlake Village neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Grossman, wife of prominent plastic surgeon and burn specialist Dr. Peter Grossman, is currently serving a 15-years-to-life sentence for the September 2020 incident in which, according to the Los Angeles Times, “she struck the boys while driving more than 70 mph on a suburban street.”
But at the time, prosecutors argued that Grossman and Erickson were racing their cars on the street after drinking alcohol over lunch with Erickson with whom she was having an affair, according to a Mail report. Grossman and her husband were separated at the time of the affair. Erickson is divorced.
GettyVAN NUYS, CA – FEBRUARY 14: Rebecca Grossman heads to Van Nuys Courthouse West Van Nuys, CA.
Erickson Places Blame Flatly on Grossman: Court Document
At Grossman’s trial, her attorney claimed that it was Erickson who hit the boys first, deflecting them into the path of Grossman’s vehicle. But Erickson was charged only with a misdemeanor, a charge that was dropped after the former 20-game winner filmed a public service announcement “about the importance of safe driving,” Fox News reported.
In the new court document, filed as part of an ongoing wrongful death lawsuit by the Iksander boys’ parents, Erickson through his attorneys “denies racing, drinking, or causing the collision – instead, throwing Grossman under the bus and declaring her the ‘negligent cause’ of the fatal incident,” according to the Mail account.
Erickson, who won a World Series with the Minnesota Twins in 1991, was not called to testify in Grossman’s trial. But in February this year as part of the wrongful death lawsuit, court filings revealed affectionate text messages between the lovers over four years, continuing even as Grossman was attempting to shift blame for the fatal crash onto the ex-Dodgers pitcher, according to a report by The New York Post.
Though the texts were mostly warm and contained repeated “I love you” messages, they also revealed Erickson’s outrage when he realized that Grossman’s attorneys were planning to pin the blame on him for the boys’ deaths.
“Huge and very stupid mistake to let them make those accusations. I’m shocked,” the now-57-year-old retired MLB star wrote, as quoted by the Post. “Just lost your best eye witness.”
In the new filing, Erickson’s lawyers say of the ex-pitcher that “there is no evidence that his vehicle made contact with the two children, that Erickson “was not racing anyone,” and that he “was not intoxicated/driving under the influence.”
GettyVAN NUYS, CA-APRIL 25, 2022: A sign shows an image of Mark Iskander, 11, left, and his brother Jacob Iskander, 8, outside of Van Nuys Courthouse where a preliminary hearing was held for Rebecca Grossman who was charged with murder and other counts stemming from a crash in Westlake Village, where Grossman’s Mercedes struck the boys in a crosswalk and killed them.
Erickson Pitched For Dodgers Near End of Career
Erickson pitched for the Dodgers in 2005, the next-to-last year of his 15-season MLB career. He pitched for the New York Yankees briefly in 2006 before retiring.
The California native was drafted in the fourth round by the Twins in 1989 out of the University of Arizona. After making 19 starts for Minnesota in his rookie year of 1990, he made his mark on MLB in 1991 with a 20-8 record that earned him second place in Cy Young Award voting.
He faltered in the World Series against the Atlanta Braves, however, allowing seven earned runs over 10 2/3 innings in two starts against the Atlanta Braves. But the Twins won the series in seven games.
In 1995, the Twins traded Erickson in July to the Baltimore Orioles. He pitched in the postseason in both 1996 and 1997 for Baltimore, but injuries later derailed his career. From 2004 to 2006, Erickson pitched for four teams, the Texas Rangers and New York Mets in addition to the Dodgers and Yankees before calling it quits.
Scott Erickson, World Series Champ, Blames Ex-Lover in Death of 2 Boys: Lawsuit