Former Major League Baseball player Royce Clayton took the stand in Rebecca Grossman’s wrongful death civil trial on Friday, recalling how he learned the Grossman Burn Foundation co-founder had fatally struck two boys with her car in a Westlake Village crosswalk.
With tears in his eyes, Clayton testified that ex-Dodger pitcher Scott Erickson told him he saw Grossman run over the two brothers in his rearview mirror as she tailed him at a “high rate of speed” in her Mercedes.
“I don’t know if he used the word racing, but they were traveling at a high rate of speed. She was directly behind him, and he said as he came up to this crosswalk, he saw the children,” Clayton said inside the Van Nuys courtroom, where both Grossman and Erickson are on civil trial in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Jacob and Mark Iskander, 8 and 11.
On Sept. 29, 2020, Nancy Iskander was crossing the street in Westlake Village with her sons, 5, 8 and 11 years old, in tow.
As they crossed, the boys’ mother was able to pull her youngest son out of the way, but Jacob and Mark were hit and launched into the air.
According to testimony at her criminal trial, Grossman had been drinking with Erickson, her boyfriend at the time, and Clayton at a restaurant before the crash. Grossman and Erickson were headed to her home to watch a presidential debate that evening when the crash occurred.
She is now serving 15 years to life in prison after being convicted of second-degree murder.
On Friday, Clayton, a former shortstop with several MLB teams, recalled receiving a dramatic call from Erickson moments after the collision.
He testified that Erickson told him that he and Grossman were “flying down the … street” on Triunfo Canyon Road when he swerved to avoid two boys in the crosswalk.
Under questioning from the Iskander family’s attorney, Brian Panish, Clayton acknowledged that Erickson said he saw Grossman hit the boys after he swerved to avoid them.
Recalling the conversation, the former shortstop choked up with emotion and buried his face in his hands. Panish asked Clayton to recall how Erickson had described their driving, to which Clayton replied, “racing or driving fast. What does it matter?”
The Iskander family is suing Grossman and Erickson, arguing they are civilly liable for the boys’ deaths and were racing while drunk at the time.
On the stand, Clayton told jurors the three drank margaritas at Julio’s cantina before the pair went on to drive through the crosswalk. They each drove separately to Grossman’s lakeside home.
Clayton said Erickson, his friend for 30 years, called him after the crash and told him he got to Grossman’s home, then ran back to the scene and found Grossman’s smashed car and her with the police.
“He wasn’t himself, as I can only imagine going through what he witnessed,” Clayton said, adding that he suggested to Erickson he get an attorney.
Clayton said he later drove by the scene and saw Grossman’s smashed car and her sitting on the curb. Clayton testified he never saw Erickson there, but the former pitcher had told him he was watching the aftermath while sitting behind a bush on the side of the road.
Clayton told jurors he believes Erickson should be held accountable.
“The right thing to do would have been to stop,” he added.
Under questioning, Clayton said he did not believe the pair were impaired when they left Julios.
The post Ex-Dodger saw Rebecca Grossman fatally hit boys in crosswalk, former MLB star says on stand appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
