Former Major League Baseball pitcher Scott Erickson revealed that his substantial fortune has dwindled as a jury deliberates his financial responsibility in a tragic 2020 accident that claimed the lives of two young boys in Westlake Village.
The jury is tasked with determining the imposition of punitive damages on Erickson and his former partner Rebecca Grossman, following their ruling of negligence in the deaths of 11-year-old Mark and 8-year-old Jacob Iskander.
On Wednesday, the Iskander family was awarded $176 million after the jury held both the ex-pitcher and the Los Angeles socialite accountable for the brothers’ deaths.
Testifying on Friday during the trial’s punitive phase, Erickson stated that the vast majority of the nearly $46 million he earned throughout his MLB career has been depleted.
Erickson admitted to the jury that he has been unemployed for several years, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“I haven’t been able to secure employment since the accident,” he informed the court.
His MLB career ended in 2006, that along with a divorce, taxes and other bad decisions has left him with little more than $9,000 in the bank, per the report.
However, Erickson still has $242,000 in a retirement account, equity in a condo in Las Vegas worth $200,000, and a $13,000 pension monthly from MLB, per the report.
Grossman, who was convicted of murder for killing the two young boys with her car during a chase with Erickson, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison in 2024.
The former MLB pitcher was driving a separate car nearby that day, raising questions about whether the pair had been speeding together. Erickson, however, was never charged.
The ex-Dodger finally addressed the tragedy when he took the stand last month in the wrongful death trial.
He testified that he sped up when he spotted two young boys in the crosswalk moments before they were fatally struck in 2020.
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“I stepped on the gas for probably two or three seconds to get through, because I thought that was the safest process,” Erickson told the Van Nuys courtroom on May 13.
During his testimony Friday, prosecutors questioned him about admitting his guilt for his part in the deadly crash six years later.
“It took a jury verdict for you to come clean and admit under oath that you caused the deaths, you were part of it and you covered it up for almost six years, correct?” Attorney Brian Panish said, per ABC7.
“Yes, that’s correct.” Erickson replied.
The former professional baseball player also told the jury he now believes if he could’ve stopped, the Iskander brothers would be alive today.
“I feel terrible about what happened. I feel really bad about my actions and some of the terrible behavior I did,” he said, per the Times report.
“I have not been very honest. And no words can describe how I feel about what’s happened … I truly believe now if I had somehow been able to stop, I probably, possibly, could have saved their lives.”
Just after 7 p.m. September 29, 2020, the boys were crossing Triunfo Canyon Road with their mother and younger brother when witnesses saw cars racing toward them.
Erickson, behind the wheel of a black SUV, reached the crosswalk first. Moments later, Grossman, his girlfriend at the time, allegedly plowed through in her white Mercedes, striking and killing the children.
Grossman, co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation and wife of plastic surgeon Dr. Peter Grossman, was allegedly driving 73 mph in a 45-mph zone when the crash occurred.
Nancy Iskander, the mother of the two boys, said she grabbed her youngest son and dove out of the way of Erickson’s SUV before seeing Grossman’s vehicle speed through where Mark and Jacob had been standing.
In March, the California appeals court rejected Grossman’s final bid to overturn her conviction and kept her behind bars with no early release and no reprieve.
