Former Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson testified on Wednesday that he no longer considers fellow former MLB player Royce Clayton a buddy after Clayton’s recent testimony suggested Erickson and his former girlfriend, Rebecca Grossman, were speeding the night Grossman ran over and killed two boys in Westlake Village in 2020.
“We’re not friends,” Erickson told a Van Nuys Superior Court jury when questioned by an attorney from his legal team. Asked why, Erickson replied, “Because of what he said.”
Clayton had testified earlier that Erickson told him after the accident that he and Grossman were “flying down” the street, but the former San Francisco Giants shortstop said he didn’t recall whether Erickson used the word “racing.”
Erickson said he met Clayton at charity golf tournaments in 1994, but only saw him during the off-season. Erickson said he retired before Clayton did and that the two were never close friends. He said he learned of what Clayton said during the trial during examination by Brian Panish, the chief attorney for lead plaintiff Nancy Iskander, the mother of the slain boys.
In previous testimony, Erickson contended that he was not impaired that night and denied that Iskander had to jump along with her surviving son, Zachary, out of Erickson’s way to avoid being hit by his car as she has claimed.
The plaintiffs in the civil suit filed in January 2021 are Iskander and her husband Karim as well as son Zachary. Along with Grossman and Erickson, they are suing the socialite’s husband, Peter Grossman.
The lawsuit filed in January 2021 contends that Rebecca Grossman and Erickson had cocktails and the two later engaged in a speed contest along Triunfo Canyon Road until they reached a crosswalk and the children were struck at about 80 mph in a 45 mph zone on Sept. 29, 2020.
Erickson earlier said he has been drinking alcohol daily for 10 years, but it did not affect his judgment the night the boys were struck. On Thursday, he testified that he usually has a margarita and wine before dinner and that if he does go out and drinks socially, it typically is a “couple beers” and a margarita.
Erickson said drinking outside of a home setting was more difficult at that time because of the pandemic-related shutdowns. Erickson further said that he and Grossman, who he says he loved at the time even though she was married, met from time to time at his home in Malibu or hers in Hidden Hills. But the night of the accident they planned to meet in Westlake Village, he said.
Erickson said he ate a Subway footlong sandwich that day. He said his relationships with Grossman’s son and daughter, Nick and Alexis, were cordial.
Erickson’s testimony was interrupted multiple times by objections of leading the witness from Panish and most of them were sustained. At one point, Panish asked Judge Huey Cotton, “Can we have him stop this?”
Erickson previously acknowledged that he was driving his 2016 high-performance Mercedes-Benz that night and that he regularly switched license plates with his older 2007 model for six years to avoid having to pay registration fees on the second vehicle. Erickson testified he drove both inside and outside of California with the phony plates — a practice called cold-plating — and that he now is in the process of making things right, having hit roadblocks regarding the title to the car in the past. He said he bought the 2016 car in Arizona in 2019.
In their court papers, the Iskander attorneys contend that the 62-year-old Grossman tried to flee the scene and likely would have succeeded had her vehicle not automatically shut down due to it sensing the massive impact that had just occurred.
The philanthropist then lied to law enforcement about her speed and how much she had to drink, and contended she did not know why her airbag suddenly deployed despite her vehicle sustaining massive front-end damage, the Iskander attorneys further state. Grossman and Erickson have blamed each other for hitting the boys.
In March, a panel of the Second District Court of Appeal upheld the conviction of the Grossman Burn Foundation co-founder. Grossman was found guilty Feb. 23, 2024, of two counts each of second-degree murder and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and one count of hit-and-run driving in connection with the Sept. 29, 2020, deaths of Mark and Jacob Iskander, aged 11 and 8.
Grossman was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.