Family of Kids Killed During a Street Race Involving Scott Erickson Awarded $176M

[Seth Stohs]

It was in September of 2020, the Scott Erickson and his girlfriend Rebecca Grossman (wife of a prominent LA surgeon) made the decision to grab a couple of drinks. Then they decided to race their matching Mercedes-Benz SUVs at speeds between 70 and 80 miles per hour. 

Those decisions contributed to the deaths of Mark (11) and Jacob (8) Iskander. The boys were out walking with their mother and a younger sibling. Reports are that the mother grabbed the younger sibling and dove out of the way of Erickson's car. Grossman was driving the car that hit and killed the two boys. 

In criminal court in 2024, Grossman was sentenced to 15 years to life for two counts of second-degree murder. 

On Wednesday, a civil court, the jurors awarded the Iskander family $176 million. Not only were they negligent, but the jury said that both Erickson and Grossman acted with malice. That could lead to a punitive damages phase of the civil trial. And in that phase, they could be awarded significantly more than the $176 million from this phase. 

That phase begins this week as well. 

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[bean5302]

I saw that. Seems like the malice part probably came from the interpretation they attempted to flee the scene. An awful situation.

[LewFordLives]

It seems like a lot of pro athletes just go into self-destruction mode when they leave the game. Is it some inherent character flaw, or is it that they retire early and just don't know what to do with themselves for the rest of their lives?

[Andrea]

Thank you for keeping an eye on this for us.

[Seth Stohs]

13 hours ago, LewFordLives said:

It seems like a lot of pro athletes just go into self-destruction mode when they leave the game. Is it some inherent character flaw, or is it that they retire early and just don't know what to do with themselves for the rest of their lives?

I'm sure it's an incredibly low percentage that actually do... unless it's football, then the CTE stuff is real! And football players are a bit different from the get-go.

[Riverbrian]

It took 4 years to convict?

It took 5.5 years for a financial settlement? 

I'm going to be thinking about that. 

 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

21 hours ago, LewFordLives said:

It seems like a lot of pro athletes just go into self-destruction mode when they leave the game. Is it some inherent character flaw, or is it that they retire early and just don't know what to do with themselves for the rest of their lives?

The “news” is riddled with these stories, but if you compare to the population what’s the percentage compared to the population’s a whole? I bet pretty similar

[Squirrel]

6 hours ago, Riverbrian said:

It took 4 years to convict?

It took 5.5 years for a financial settlement? 

I'm going to be thinking about that. 

 

It’s justice American style … that’s what you should be thinking about. That kind of lag time isn’t uncommon. My only comment on this is why wasn’t Erickson given any jail time, too, as an accessory? But the criminal trial concluded in March. This financial settlement was the result of the civil trial.

[nicksaviking]

On 6/5/2026 at 10:06 AM, LewFordLives said:

It seems like a lot of pro athletes just go into self-destruction mode when they leave the game. Is it some inherent character flaw, or is it that they retire early and just don't know what to do with themselves for the rest of their lives?

I'd bet many of the same traits that often make people professional athletes are shared by reckless thrill seekers. Highly competitive, unable to decline a challenge, desire to be performative in front of others, spontaneous instead of future-thinking and an over-abundance of self confidence in one's abilities.

So I'd guess a lot of these people haven't changed since when they were pro athletes, they simply now lack the outlet of professional competition.

[bean5302]

On 6/6/2026 at 11:15 AM, Squirrel said:

It’s justice American style … that’s what you should be thinking about. That kind of lag time isn’t uncommon. My only comment on this is why wasn’t Erickson given any jail time, too, as an accessory? But the criminal trial concluded in March. This financial settlement was the result of the civil trial.

Erickson didn't hit anybody, but he was convicted of a misdemeanor reckless driving. It would be pretty shocking to see jail time handed out for that. As far as being an accessory, there was certainly no intent to hit the children and Erickson was convicted of the crime which was actually intended (street racing/reckless driving). If authorities could've charged Erickson with any felonies and made them stick, they would have. Convictions in the United States are easy to come by so if prosecutors didn't think they could get one, it wasn't going to be close at trial.

Rebecca Grossman was convicted over 2 years ago in February, 2024. The appeal took another 2 years, until March, 2026. It's common to have civil suits wait until after the criminal trial for a lot of reasons.

Basically, they decided to street race, two kids died and Grossman's getting 15 to life. She blew .08 (legal limit). She's been in prison for 2 years already.

I'm not sure what Justice "American style" means. 

 

[twinstalker]

Westlake Village.  Spent time right next to it in college.