Former baseball star Scott Erickson reportedly sent a chilling text message to his friend just a day after he witnessed his then-girlfriend, Rebecca Grossman, kill two young boys on a crosswalk in California.
Wealthy socialite Rebecca Grossman, 62, received a sentence of 15 years to life in prison in 2020 over the deaths of two young boys, Mark, eleven, and Jacob, eight, after she fatally hit them while they were crossing a road with their family in Westlake Village.
She was convicted of two counts each of second-degree murder and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, and one count of hit-and-run driving.
Prosecutors claimed that Grossman and Erickson, her then-boyfriend, had been out drinking before the deadly September 2020 crash.
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The two were allegedly in separate vehicles at the time of the hit-and-run, when the prosecution said she was speeding down the road.
During the 2024 sentencing, only Grossman was found guilty, but the family of the young boys have now taken their case to the civil court in an attempt to prove that both Grossman and Erickson share blame in the killing of the little boys.
Ex-pro baseball star Royce Clayton broke down in tears as he took to the stand on Friday (May 1), to give evidence in the civil case.
He recounted how his long-time friend, Erickson, allegedly admitted to him that he saw his lover slam into the two boys, as he ran into him at a Malibu restaurant the day after the crime was committed.
Clayton paused to wipe his eyes, as he relayed a text message that he received from Erickson just 24 hours after the horrifying crash.
"Hey dude…..I’m drinking your last IPA you left here at the house….Nothing to worry about," the jury heard.
Brian Panish, attorney for the boys’ parents, asked Clayton: "Did Mr Erickson tell you on the phone that night that he and Ms Grossman were racing down the street... He saw the children in the crosswalk. He swerved and she hit the children?"
"Yes," he responded with tears in his eyes. He added: "He swerved and kept going."
Clayton admitted that Erickson’s lack of accountability 'did not sit well with [him]'.
"The right thing to do would have been to stop," he continued.
The grieving parents of the boys who were killed are seeking, in the words of their attorney, ‘tens and tens and tens of millions’ in damages.
During the criminal trial, Grossman's defence team argued that the socialite did not see the children, branding the crash a 'tragic, horrible accident'.
And Erickson continues to deny any responsibility for the deaths of the Iskander boys, maintaining that Grossman was solely to blame for the collision.
UNILAD has contacted Erickson's lawyers for comment.
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Mia Williams