Left: Rebecca Grossman is seen walking outside a Los Angeles courthouse (via screengrab/KABC); the scene of the crash (via screengrab/KTTV).
The woman accused of killing two young brothers as she sped through a residential neighborhood in a wealthy part of Los Angeles is speaking out ahead of her murder trial, saying that she is the target of “a lot of hate and anger.”
Rebecca Grossman, 59, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the deaths of Jacob Iskander, 8, and Mark Iskander, 11. The boys were killed on Sept. 29, 2020, when Grossman hit them with her Mercedes as she allegedly sped through the streets of Westlake Village while playing a “high-speed game of chicken” with former Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson.
According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Grossman kept driving after she hit the boys, allegedly carrying one of them on her car more than 100 feet and then, after hitting the brakes, running over him as she fled the scene. Grossman allegedly stopped a quarter of a mile away because her car engine cut off, and the DA’s office has said that she tried to restart the car 14 times, which is possible evidence of a hit-and-run. She was reportedly going at least 71 miles per hour when she struck Jacob and Mark.
On Monday, Los Angeles Magazine published an interview with Grossman, who said she is largely misunderstood.
“There is a lot of hate and anger out there,” Grossman told Los Angeles Magazine‘s Jason McGahan during a Zoom interview from her attorney’s office. “And that hate stems from believing everything that’s been put out there about who I am: that I have no remorse, that I’m this monster, that this hasn’t affected my life, that I just go about my every day as if this never happened.”
“That’s just not true,” she added, according to the story.
The article acknowledged that the Iskanders “have endured much worse” than Grossman, but the piece largely focused on how Grossman has struggled since killing the boys with her car in 2020.
According to the piece, she has “crushing guilt” and believes that her own mother’s death might have been triggered by the trauma of the crash. Grossman, who co-founded the Grossman Burn Center with her husband Dr. Peter Grossman, has been described as a “socialite” and “philanthropist,” but she has now been largely shunned by her own wealthy, celebrity-studded community, according to Los Angeles Magazine.
“The thought of taking the easy way out crossed my mind,” she told McGahan, who said that Grosmann “confessed” to him that she has considered suicide. “It still does from time to time.”
Grossman’s husband told McGahan: “She cries every day … She is in an emotional prison that she may never be able to get out of.”
The boys were killed within view of their mother, Nancy Iskander. She testified at a court hearing in April that as she and her sons were at a crosswalk of a three-way intersection, she heard the roar of engines and was able to grab her 5-year-old son and dive to safety before Grossman struck her other boys. Nancy Iskander testified that her youngest son witnessed first responders perform CPR on his brother Jacob, who died hours later at the hospital. Mark died at the scene.
Karim Iskander, the boys’ father, and the couple’s daughter were jogging nearby at the time.
Erickson, who reportedly drove past the family before Grossman hit the children, has been charged with misdemeanor reckless driving.
Earlier this year, Grossman tried to get the murder charges dismissed, but a judge found that there was enough evidence to argue that Grossman acted with “implied malice” and knew that driving more than 70 mph in a residential area could endanger human life.
According to Los Angeles Magazine, Grossman’s teenage daughter has set up a website proclaiming that her mother is the victim of a “false narrative” and “gross overcharging by prosecutors.”
Grossman’s trial is set for March. She faces 34 years to life in prison if convicted on the most serious charges. She has been out on $2 million bail for nearly two years.
Grossman’s attorney, Tony Buzbee, did not immediately reply to Law&Crime’s request for comment.
[Image of Grossman via screengrab/KABC. Image of crash site via screengrab/KTTV.]
