Nancy Iskander, whose sons Mark and Jacob were killed in 2020 in a Westlake Village crosswalk, testified Tuesday in a civil wrongful-death trial against Rebecca Grossman and former Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson. She described grabbing her younger son to avoid
When Nancy Iskander walked jurors through the moments before her boys were taken, she kept returning to a single image—an oncoming bumper and the speed she said felt unreal.
On Tuesday. in a civil wrongful-death trial tied to a Westlake Village crosswalk killing. the mother testified that she was crossing a road with her three sons when she was forced to dive and grab her youngest. 5-year-old Zachary. She said she then watched her two older boys—Mark. 11. and Jacob. 8—vanish after two Mercedes SUVs came speeding down Triunfo Canyon Road.
“I was crossing the road. I was not crossing the racetrack,” Iskander told jurors, describing how a black Mercedes SUV, driven by Scott Erickson, barreled through the marked crosswalk.
“I still see that bumper,” she said. “I see it in my nightmares.”
Iskander said the black car passed through the crosswalk at what she called “insane speed.” She then described a second vehicle—a white Mercedes driven by Rebecca Grossman—following closely behind, with her older sons near the median as one rode a skateboard and the other rode skates.
She testified that the two cars appeared to accelerate and descend on them. “The white car passed exactly where Mark and Jacob were, and then I looked back and didn’t find them, and I started screaming,” she said.
She told the jury that she ran down the road and saw Mark first. “He had blood coming out of his mouth, and his shoes weren’t on him,” she testified. “I could tell he was all broken, and I could tell he died. … I just knew, I don’t know how, as a mother.”
Iskander said she then found Jacob. “Jacob looked as if he was asleep,” she recalled. “I kept thinking there’s no way God will take them both.”
A trained pharmacist, Iskander testified she checked Jacob and heard his beating heart. For a moment, she said, she was alone as neither car stopped.
“I was in absolute shock,” she said.
Paramedics arrived and covered Mark with a sheet while they began CPR on Jacob. Iskander testified that paramedics transported Jacob to Los Robles Medical Center. She and her husband, Karim, followed in a police car.
Iskander said a doctor told them Jacob’s condition was grave—“If he makes it, he will be paralyzed from the neck down,” the doctor said—adding that the spinal cord was separated from his head. She testified they were taken to say goodbye to her son. “I told him I was proud of him and I loved him.”
Later, Iskander testified that she saw Grossman in the emergency room wearing handcuffs. “She knew who I was because she looked at me,” Iskander said. “She just looked me in the eye. … I was shocked, like, her age.” She added that she had imagined it would be a teenager driving at that speed.
The lawsuit seeks $100 million from Grossman, Erickson and their insurance companies.
Grossman was convicted in 2024, after a trial in which experts testified she was driving up to 81 mph and traveled a quarter of a mile after slamming into the children before her car shut down. She is serving a sentence of 15 years to life.
In this civil case, Iskander described how the two Mercedes SUVs were headed to Grossman’s home to watch a presidential debate, after investigators testified that Grossman and Erickson had been drinking margaritas at a local cantina before getting into their respective vehicles.
Sheriff’s investigators testified that Grossman was driving at more than 70 mph when she hit the boys. Erickson, however, testified last week that while he was traveling in front of her he was doing about 50 mph.
The civil complaint accuses the pair of racing that day, but Erickson told jurors they were not. He testified that he missed the brothers and never saw what happened in his rearview mirror. saying he was on the phone with Grossman after the crash and asked. “Did you see the boys?” Iskander testified Grossman replied. “The boys … ,” and hung up.
During the criminal trial, Grossman’s lawyers alleged that Erickson’s SUV struck the boys first, tossing them into Grossman’s path. Still, jurors convicted Grossman for the deaths.
Standing on Tuesday’s witness stand, Iskander echoed her attorney, Brian Panish, who promised to show that both the pitcher and his then-girlfriend were culpable because they were racing on the residential street.
“I relive that day every day,” she said. “I am a broken mother for sure. Part of me died with them.”
Iskander told the court that her husband kept their Westlake Village home’s bedrooms the same way. The couple are now living in Massachusetts, and Iskander said she can’t shake the urge to remember them exactly as they were.
“No parent wants to forget their kid,” she explained. “Because it is flesh and blood and what is more important than life.”
She became emotional as she described her last Mother’s Day.
“This year was extremely hard. … My daughter, who is 7, made me a card at school,” Iskander said. “She put a pink heart, and she put in it ‘Mark and Jacob. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom.’ It just hit really hard.”
Westlake Village Triunfo Canyon Road crosswalk Nancy Iskander Mark Iskander Jacob Iskander Zachary Iskander Rebecca Grossman Scott Erickson civil wrongful death trial $100 million 2020 crash 2024 conviction
Crosswalks are supposed to be safe smh.
Wait so the Dodgers pitcher was driving?? Like how is that even allowed, mans got celebrity money and still hits somebody in a crosswalk. Idk I feel like this trial is just gonna end up with some slap on the wrist.
I saw the headline and thought it was criminal court, not civil. Also how do you even prove “insane speed” like she says, are they timing it from the cars on video or what? Not trying to be rude, just confused.
This is so sad. But if she was crossing with three sons and then “dived and grabbed” the 5-year-old… wouldn’t the whole point be the kids were in the crosswalk already? Idk, maybe the road was like super messed up or something. Still, two Mercedes “accelerating and descending” sounds like pure chaos, like something from a movie. I just hope they don’t water it down cause famous names are involved.