Witness in Rebecca Grossman murder trial describes ‘war zone’ scene where she found killed boys’ shoes strewn on road after they were fatally hit on crosswalk and their mother ‘screaming’ at the sight of her dead children

A teenage witness at the murder trial of Rebecca Grossman gave a dramatic account of the scene in the crosswalk ‘war zone’ where she found traumatized mother Nancy Iskander screaming and the tragic sight of the shoes of one of her two fatally wounded sons crossing over were scattered across the street. away.

Dorsa Khoedami – who was 16 when Jacob, 8, and Mark, 11, Iskander were killed in the horrific crash – told the jury on Thursday that she had just finished playing tennis when she heard “a very loud noise that was very alarming” and then a second loud bang, followed by screams.

“I told my mom, let’s go,” she said, and after calling 911, she began running to the nearby marked crosswalk in Westlake Village, where she found a distraught Nancy Iskander in her bare feet and a pair of shoes. found nearby.

Mark (left) and Jacob Iskander, 11 and 8 respectively, died in the horrific crash on September 29, 2020. On Thursday, witness Dorsa Khoedami recalled finding their “screaming” mother, Nancy, (right) at the scene.

The teenage girl told the court she began running to the nearby marked crosswalk in Westlake Village (pictured), where she found a distraught Nancy Iskander in bare feet and wearing a pair of shoes nearby.

She thought they were Nancy’s shoes and said she was going to pick them up to tell the mother to put them on, she told the jury.

“Nancy was still screaming and saying, ‘They’re my son’s shoes,’” she said.

Later, Khoedami — a classmate of Grossman’s daughter Alexis — said her mother, the doctor, “described the crash site as a war zone.”

The 60-year-old Grossman — wearing black pants, beige blouse and black vest with a white rose pattern at Van Nuy District Court Thursday — is charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the tragic deaths of the Iskander brothers in September 2020.

The wealthy socialite faces a maximum prison sentence of 34 years to life if convicted of the murders. She is also charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and one count of collision resulting in death.

She has pleaded not guilty to all charges

The founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation, along with her husband, prominent plastic surgeon Peter Grossman, has been free on $2 million bail since her arrest more than three years ago.

While prosecutors insist it was Grossman’s car that struck and killed the boys, her defense team claims it was the black SUV driven by her then-boyfriend, ex-professional baseball player Scott Erickson, 56 — with whom she previously had margaritas drunk – who was to blame.

Prosecutors say Grossman was racing her lover at 80 mph in a 70 mph zone when her white Mercedes SUV struck and killed the boys.

Grossman has pleaded not guilty to all charges, but faces up to 34 years in prison if convicted

Prosecutors allege Grossman had been racing with her baseball player lover Scott Erickson, 56, before the crash. Erickson won a World Series with the 1991 Minnesota Twins and went on to play for five other MLB teams

Erickson, who was dating Grossman during a divorce from her husband, was reportedly “racing” with her as he drove his black SUV through the crosswalk where the Iskanders were walking, seconds ahead of Grossman’s car.

He was charged with reckless driving and his case was resolved in February 2022, with a judge ordering him to make a public service announcement to high school students about the importance of safe driving.

On Thursday, Grossman’s defense team tried to convince Judge Joseph Brandolino to allow them to recreate in court the two airbags deploying as they had in Grossman’s Mercedes SUV at the time the boys were hit.

Prosecutors quickly objected, telling the judge, “We don’t need to bring airbags and deflate them in court.” They asked him to order a video demonstration instead.

After hearing from airbag and seat belt expert William Broadhead that when an airbag deploys, “it’s incredibly loud and explosive, like a cherry bomb going off,” the judge withdrew the idea of ​​a courtroom demonstration, saying the jurors could watch a video instead.

Nancy Iskander was crossing the road with the brothers and her youngest son Zachary, 5, when they were hit. Nancy and her husband leave court on February 6

Grossman has pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in the hit-and-run deaths of eight-year-old Jacob and Mark Iskander, 11, at a pedestrian crossing in Westlake Village

But he did say yes to a courtroom demonstration of the ‘belt tensioner’ that tightens the seat belt in the event of an accident.

Like airbags, it also fires a controlled explosive that activates, but it is a much smaller charge.

In that case, even the seat belt tensioner was banned from the courtroom by the LA sheriff, who, Judge Brandolino said, “doesn’t want pyrotechnics in the courthouse.”

Broadhead told the court that Grossman’s car had a total of five “pyrotechnic devices” – two for each airbag and one for the seat belt pretensioner.

As they left, he said, “Sedate them. You don’t know what to do. You don’t know if it’s a bomb or a sniper… you jump out of your skin.’

In the case of Grossman’s accident, Broadhead said she would not be able to distinguish between a collision with a pedestrian and an airbag deployment.

‘It’s very violent and extremely loud. It baffles you and it’s confusing when you don’t know you’ve had an accident.’

He added that the airbags in Grossman’s Mercedes SUV “should deploy next in the event of a collision with a pedestrian.”