Jaeger takes 1-shot lead at Torrey Pines after Detry’s watery finish

• January 27, 2024

By BERNIE WILSON AP Sports Writer

LA JOLLA — Stephan Jaeger sank a 6-foot birdie putt on No. 18 at Torrey Pines South for a one-shot lead in the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open on Friday, moments after Thomas Detry’s third shot landed well past the hole and spun back into the pond fronting the green, leading to a double bogey that cost him the lead.

It was a tough day of high scores on the blufftop municipal gem high above the Pacific Ocean. Detry took the biggest gut punch when he went from a one-shot lead on the 18th tee to dropping two shots off the pace.

Jaeger, a German who lives in Tennessee, had a 1-over 73 and was at 11-under 205 through 54 holes. Matthieu Pavon (72) of France and Nicolai Hojgaard (73) of Denmark were at 10 under while Detry, of Belgium, was 9 under after his 73.

There very well could be a first-time winner on the PGA Tour after the final round. Jaeger has never won on tour, and neither have any of the eight players within three shots of him. The tournament ends on Saturday to avoid conflict with the NFL’s conference title games.

Detry, playing in the final group with Jaeger and Hojgaard, was at 11 under going into the 543-yard, par-5 18th with the backdrop of a brilliant sunset. He hit a 293-yard drive and a 162-yard second shot that left him 92 yards from the hole. After his wedge spun too hard and scooted into the pond, Detry covered his face with his right hand.

“I hit an amazing drive. I drove it great on 18,” he said. “I was just in between 3-wood, hybrid. It’s been a very long day. I think we played in 5 hours, 45 (minutes). I had a little bit of mud on the ball. The lie wasn’t perfect, the light was starting to be – it was starting to be dark.

“There was a couple of different factors that were not in my favor,” he said. “Obviously short is a no-go. So we decided to be smart and there we go, I got punched in the face.”

After taking a penalty, he hit to within 24 feet and two-putted.

The pond is known as Devlin’s Billabong for Australian Bruce Devlin, who was in contention for the 1975 Andy Williams San Diego Open before taking seven hacks to get his ball out of the water on his way to a 10.

There were a number of factors for the high scores, including tough pin placements and thick rough that was soaked during a storm Monday that overwhelmed parts of the city.

“I think most of the greens here slope from back to front and there was a lot of back flags,” Detry said. “So, I mean, if you’re coming in with a wedge, you obviously got a lot of spin. It’s almost impossible to get it all the way back there because obviously long miss is no-go as well. I think that was probably one of the main reasons.

“Also, with all the rain and obviously the heat the last couple of days, I think the rough is juicier than ever. Obviously the greens with that many players making the cut and people walking on those greens, the greens being soft as well, it’s not easy to make putts out there.”

Five players were tied at 8 under while nine were 7 under, including Xander Schauffele, a San Diegan who is ranked No. 5 in the world, and Tony Finau.

​ Orange County Register 

Slumping Kings can’t slow surging Avalanche

• January 27, 2024

By CRAIG MEYER The Associated Press

DENVER — Two teams headed in opposite directions produced a predictable result.

Logan O’Connor scored two of Colorado’s three first-period goals helping the Avalanche to a 5-1 victory over the Kings on Friday night, handing the visitors their 13th loss in 15 games.

In a matchup of the league’s top scoring offense and its third-stingiest scoring defense, Colorado continued its recent offensive tear in which it has scored 18 goals during its three-game win streak.

Alexandar Georgiev, who will be taking part in his first career All-Star Game next week, stopped 26 shots.

Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Josh Manson also scored for the Avalanche, who won for the 11th time in 14 games in their final game before the NHL All-Star break.

MacKinnon’s goal and assist moved him past Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the NHL points lead with 84 and extended his franchise-record home point streak to 25 games. That latter mark ties him with Bobby Orr in 1974-75 for the second-longest home point streak to open an NHL season.

O’Connor has six goals over Colorado’s past five games. The 27-year-old right wing recorded his first career hat trick six days earlier in a win against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Friday’s setback prolonged a midseason tailspin for the Kings, who have struggled mightily since starting the season 20-7-4. During the team’s current three-game losing streak, a previously stout defense has allowed 14 goals.

The Avalanche took a 3-0 lead in the first period prompting the Kings to pull goaltender Cam Talbot in favor of David Rittich. Heading into his second career All-Star Game appearance, Talbot gave up three first-period goals on 12 shots.

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Kevin Fiala scored the Kings’ goal, firing a slapshot past Georgiev on a power play in the second period.

The Kings had their share of scoring opportunities, but they failed to convert. Trevor Moore, the team’s leading scorer, had two scoring chances against Georgiev, who made a glove save on the first, with Moore firing wide left on the second.

UP NEXT

Kings: At St. Louis on Sunday at 11 a.m. PT

More to come on this story.

​ Orange County Register 

Charisma Osborne, No. 2 UCLA women pull away from Washington

• January 27, 2024

By JILL PAINTER LOPEZ The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Charisma Osborne scored 17 points and Londynn Jones added 13 to lead No. 2 UCLA to a 62-44 victory over Washington on Friday night.

UCLA (16-2 overall, 5-2 Pac 12) had lost two of its last three games before beating the Huskies. With a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, UCLA went on a 10-0 run late to build a 60-40 lead.

Washington (12-6, 2-5) has lost six of its last seven games. Dalayah Daniels had a team-high 14 points and Elle Ladine added 13.

Lauren Betts, UCLA’s leading scorer at 15.4 points per game and one of the top players in the country, did not play due to undisclosed medical reasons. Washington’s Jayda Noble, a starter, did not make the trip to Los Angeles for undisclosed reasons.

UCLA and Washington were both cold from the field in the first half. The Bruins made just 8 of 39 shots (20.5%) in the first half while Washington shot just 30%.

UCLA also had seven turnovers in the first quarter. The Bruins turned it around in the second half, making 15 of 36 shots. Osborne made a 3-pointer from the left wing at the halftime buzzer to give the Bruins a 23-21 halftime lead.

The Bruins outscored the Huskies 23-15 in the third quarter to take a 46-36 lead. Osborne had a pair of tough 3-point plays in the quarter to lead UCLA.

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BIG PICTURE

UCLA: Even though it wasn’t pretty, especially in the first half, the Bruins got back on track after losing two of their last three, providing a gritty win.

Washington: The Huskies are young and are getting good experience for the freshmen and sophomores, who make up eight of the 12 roster spots.

UP NEXT

UCLA hosts Washington State on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Washington plays at USC on Sunday at noon.

​ Orange County Register 

Mater Dei boys soccer secures Trinity League title with win over Servite

• January 27, 2024

SANTA ANA — With four Trinity League boys soccer teams ranked among the Top 10 in Orange County, finishing first in the league is no easy feat.

Doing it without losing a league game is tougher still.

But that is what Mater Dei has accomplished after defeating Servite 2-1 in a Trinity League contest Friday at Mater Dei High School.

With the victory, the Monarchs (15-0-1, 7-0-1), who are ranked No. 1 in the county and No. 2 in Division 1 of the CIF Southern Section, clinched the league title with two games to spare and remain undefeated in all games.

“I think it speaks to our culture,” Mater Dei coach Sean Ganey said. “I think anytime you put together a good string, it’s not just the talent on the field, but it’s every single guy. Watch our bench. You watch when we celebrate, everybody’s into it. And for me, that’s the culture. That’s what I’ve always said is first. Whatever we do, our culture has to be right.”

The Friars (12-5-2, 3-3-2), who are ranked No. 6 in the county, are holding on to second place and in third is Orange Lutheran (7-4-5, 2-2-4), which played to a 0-0 tie against JSerra (6-1-7, 1-1-6) on Friday.

Servite closes out the regular season with games against Orange Lutheran and JSerra.

The Friars got on the board first when Justin Cuevas scored on a penalty kick 15 minutes into the contest.

Mater Dei tied the score in the 20th minute on Diego Chavarria’s header into the net, which came off a throw-in from Jake Barak.

Michael Cherico scored what proved to be the winning goal on a perfectly placed free kick from in front of the goal, about 40 yards out.

Cherico, who has 21 goals and 10 assists this season, sent the ball over a wall of players and into the upper-right corner of the goal, just out of reach of the goalkeeper.

“It’s been a journey, especially with me at this program and all of our guys,” Cherico said. “Our core group has stayed the same for a long time. We’ve had a lot of heartbreaks and a lot of that against JSerra and against Servite. It’s a very hard league, and when you come out and get the chance to win the league against a team like Servite, who every year is one of the top teams in the state, it just feels great. Especially for us to grind out a win the way we did.”

The Monarchs defeated the Friars 3-2 in their first matchup Jan. 10 at Servite.

The game Friday was played with a high level of intensity by both teams, and along with it came multiple yellow cards.

“They deserve it,” Servite coach Eddie Soto said of the Monarchs winning the league title. “They are having a good year. That’s what makes this league so great, because on any given day, anyone can win. There’s a lot of history, and not just between the teams or the schools, but between the coaches. I’ve known Sean for nearly 30 years.”

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​ Orange County Register 

British painting stolen 54 years ago returned to owner’s son

• January 27, 2024

By Matthew Brown | Associated Press

An 18th century British painting stolen by New Jersey mobsters in 1969 has been returned more than a half-century later to the family that bought it for $7,500 during the Great Depression, the FBI’s Salt Lake City field office announced Friday.

The 40-inch-by-50-inch (102-cm-by-127-cm) John Opie painting — titled “The Schoolmistress” — is the sister painting of a similar work housed in the Tate Britain art gallery in London.

Authorities believe the piece was stolen with the help of a former New Jersey lawmaker, then passed among organized crime members for years before it ended up in the southern Utah city of St. George. A Utah man had purchased a house in Florida in 1989 from Joseph Covello Sr. — a convicted mobster linked to the Gambino family — and the painting was included in the sale, the FBI said.

When the buyer died in 2020, a Utah accounting firm that was seeking to liquidate his property sought an appraisal for the painting and it was discovered to likely be the stolen piece, the FBI said.

The painting, which dates to about 1784, was taken into custody by the agency pending resolution of who owned it and returned on Jan. 11 to Dr. Francis Wood, 96, of Newark, the son of the painting’s original owner, Dr. Earl Wood, who bought it during the 1930s, the FBI said.

“This piece of art, what a history it’s had,” said FBI Special Agent Gary France, who worked on the case. “It traveled all through the U.K. when it was first painted, and owned by quite a few families in the U.K. And then it travels overseas to the United States and is sold during the Great Depression and then stolen by the mob and recovered by the FBI decades later. It’s quite amazing.”

Opie, who came from the Cornwall region, was one of the most important British historical and portrait painters in his time, said Lucinda Lax, curator of paintings at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut. His paintings have sold at major auction houses such as Sotheby’s and Christie’s, including one bought in 2007 for almost $1 million.

Opie often portrayed British royals and other members of the elite. But he also depicted scenes from ordinary life, such as in “The Schoolmistress,” which shows an older teacher sitting at a table with a book and surrounded by young students.

“It’s such a compelling painting,” Lax said. “It’s a subject drawn from everyday life and he paints it in a very direct, straightforward way. He’s not artificially elevating it.”

Special Agent Gary France, second right,, Dr. Francis Wood and Wood’s children stand next to the John Opie painting that was stolen from Wood’s parents’ home in 1969 in Newark, N.J.,on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024.

According to the FBI, the painting was taken from Earl Wood’s house by three men working at the direction of former New Jersey state Sen. Anthony Imperiale, who died in 1999. Imperiale, a political firebrand who also served as a Newark city councilman, was in the national spotlight in the 1960s as a spokesman for cracking down on crime. He was also divisive, organizing citizen patrols to keep Black protesters out of Italian neighborhoods during riots in Newark in the summer of 1967.

Authorities say the thieves broke into the house in July 1969 in a bid to steal a coin collection, but were foiled by a burglar alarm. Local police and Imperiale responded to the attempted burglary, and the home’s caretaker told the lawmaker that the Opie painting in the home was “priceless,” the FBI said.

The men returned to the house later that month and stole the painting, the FBI said.

One of the thieves, Gerald Festa, later confessed to the burglary, in the 1975 trial of an accomplice, and said the trio been acting under Imperiale. Festa said the thieves had visited Imperiale prior to the theft and were told by the lawmaker where to find the painting in Wood’s home, the FBI said. Festa also testified that Imperiale had the painting.

The claims against the state lawmaker were not sufficiently corroborated and he was never charged, France said.

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No charges have been filed by the FBI since the painting’s recovery because all of those believed to have been involved are dead, France said. The three men who stole the painting were all convicted of other mob-related crimes before their deaths, he said.

Francis Wood’s son, Tom, recalled on Friday how “The Schoolmistress” hung for decades in his grandparent’s dining room, where it loomed over Sunday dinners and other family gatherings until its sudden disappearance. Francis Wood bought another, smaller Opie painting about 25 years ago as a placeholder for the lost piece and was “just thrilled” to get the stolen piece back, David Wood said.

It’s now being cleaned and appraised, but remains in good condition with only a few flecks of paint missing from the piece, according to France.

“It has one or two minor blemishes, but for a painting that’s 240 years old and has been on a roundabout journey, it’s in pretty good shape,” David Wood said. “Whoever has had their hands on it, I’m thankful they took care of the painting.”

​ Orange County Register 

Dana Hills junior Evan Noonan is the Gatorade California boys cross country athlete of the year

• January 27, 2024

Dana Hills junior Evan Noonan has been selected as the Gatorade Boys Cross Country Player of the Year, it was announced Friday.

Noonan was the Register’s Orange County Boys Cross Country Athlete of the Year in 2023 and 2022.

This past fall, he won the CIF State Division III championship, covering the 5,000-meter course in 14 minutes, 53.3 seconds. That was 17 seconds faster than the Division III second-place finisher and was the fastest time of the day for all runners.

Noonan also was victorious in the CIF Southern Section Division 3 finals for the second year in a row. He had the best time of all runners that day, too.

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​ Orange County Register 

El Monte officers fatally shot in ambush were not verbally warned that suspect had a gun, was on PCP

• January 27, 2024

An El Monte police dispatcher failed to tell two officers fatally shot by a convicted gang member that the suspect reportedly had a gun and was under the influence of PCP and methamphetamine, reveals a 911 recording obtained by the Southern California News Group.

The frantic 911 call to the El Monte Police Department was made shortly before 5 p.m. on June 14, 2022, by Maria Zepeda, who reported that her daughter had been stabbed by her husband, Justin Flores, at the Siesta Inn, where they had been staying.

During the 7-minute, 20-second call, Zepeda repeatedly told dispatcher Ruth Bonneau that Flores had a recent history of violence against her daughter, was under influence of PCP and methamphetamine and was armed and dangerous.

“He’s on PCP. He has a gun!” Zepeda told Bonneau during the call.

Lost in translation

That information, however, was not communicated over the radio by Kristen Juaregui, a veteran dispatcher who deployed officers to the Siesta Inn.

“Mother is RP (reporting party). She is en route from La Puente in a black Hyundai, advising her daughter, Diana Flores Cruz, 44 years, called a second RP advising that she was stabbed by her boyfriend, Justin Flores, male, 33,” Jauregui said during her dispatch. She further stated that Flores and his wife were possibly in Room 103 and that it was unknown if the two were still at the location.

The call terminated, and there was no follow-up radio communication from Jauregui to Officer Joseph Santana, Cpl. Michael Paredes and Sgt. Eric Sanchez, the three who responded to the call.

Flores ambushed the officers when they confronted him inside the motel room, brandishing a gun and fatally shooting Paredes and Santana and wounding Sanchez in a shootout before killing himself with Paredes’ gun, which Flores had seized when the officer was down.

Family briefed

At the request of the family, Detective Amber Montenegro, a lead investigator in the case, met with Santana’s sister, Jessica Santana, and three unnamed El Monte police officers nearly a year-and-a-half later. During that session on Dec. 11, 2023, at the Los Angeles County sheriff’s homicide bureau in Monterey Park, Montenegro played the recording of the 911 call.

While the detective confirmed Jauregui did not inform officers over the radio that Flores possibly had a gun and was on drugs, the information was typed into the computer-aided dispatch system and visible to the responding officers on the computer terminals in their patrol vehicles.

“They definitely had all the information in their boxes before they arrived, so they were able to look at the call and review it,” Montenegro said during the briefing, a recording of which was obtained by the Southern California News Group.

Nevertheless, Jessica Santana and the officers present questioned Jauregui’s actions.

“We rely a lot on dispatch, and I understand we’re busy, but they need to tell the cops everything,” one of the officers said during the meeting.

Jessica Santana was the most critical.

“I don’t understand. I understand how they protect the community and stuff, but how do you guys stay safe when there’s dispatchers here that could have potentially saved their lives?” she said. “That’s just what gets me, because my brother would still be here.”

Montenegro countered by noting that the responding officers had plenty of time to review their computer terminals after arriving at the motel.

“It’s not like they got there and things were happening dynamically, right? They weren’t running in there,” Montenegro said. Prior to the shooting, she explained, the officers stood outside for a few minutes discussing a similar domestic violence call to the same motel they received a week earlier involving Flores and his wife. The two, however, were not there when officers arrived.

“You can’t put any of this all on one person,” Montenegro said.

Santana responded, saying: “It’s just I feel if they would have voiced it, it would have been different.”

Expert weighs in

Tony Harrison, who trains police dispatchers and is president of the North Carolina-based The Public Safety Group, said the information about Flores having a gun and being on drugs should have been communicated to the responding officers immediately.

“It’s important to relay all pertinent officer safety information when possible. And a perpetrator being on drugs and having a gun is certainly at the top of the list. One-hundred percent undeniable,” Harrison said in a telephone interview.

He said dispatchers cannot always rely on officers seeing information relayed via their CAD terminals.

“If I’m driving 80 miles per hour to a stabbing scene, I’m not reading my computer. That’s not safe to do,” Harrison said. “I’m relying on the dispatcher to provide those updates in a timely fashion. The part of (Flores) being on PCP and carrying a gun needs to be verbally dispatched.”

Such information allows responding officers to plan accordingly and determine a tactical approach, he said.

“Do I exit my vehicle with a rifle? Do I wait for a second unit to arrive — a third or a fourth unit to arrive? Do we make a more tactical approach instead of being a little more nonchalant and walking in?” Harrison said.

How the shootout unfolded

During her briefing, Montenegro gave a play-by-play of how the shooting unfolded.

Santana, Sanchez and Paredes stood outside Room 103. Santana knocked for several minutes, telling Cruz to open the door. Flores kept telling Santana they were getting dressed and to “hold on.”

When the door was finally opened, Flores was in his underwear holding a pair of pants. What the officers did not know was that Flores was concealing a gun, stolen out of a police car in North Carolina, behind his pants, Montenegro said.

When Santana holstered his gun to detain Flores, Flores brandished the gun and a struggle ensued between the two. Sanchez ran out of the room and took cover. Paredes was standing at the door. Flores fired two shots at him.

“He just fired two shots … and at least one of them hit Paredes dead center in the head, and he went down immediately,” Montenegro said.

Seven seconds later, Flores fired several more shots, shooting Santana in the head, arm and leg, Montenegro said.

For an undisclosed reason, Flores then seized Paredes gun, which was laying on the floor next to his body, and used it to shoot Paredes a second time in the head. Then he engaged in a shootout with Sanchez, who by that time had already called for backup on his radio, Montenegro said.

Flores and his wife “ran around the corner,” said Montenegro, but not before Sanchez shot Flores in the femoral artery and mortally wounded him.

“So the suspect was dead pretty quickly, he just didn’t realize it with all the drugs he was on,” Montenegro said.

Flores fell to the ground, rolled over and continued shooting at Sanchez as other officers started arriving. Sanchez suffered a through-and-through wound in his foot.

At 5:10 p.m., Flores killed himself with Paredes’ gun, Montenegro said.

Montenegro said toxicology tests later revealed Flores had PCP, methamphetamine and marijuana in his system. She also said they were pursuing criminal charges against Flores’ wife for her alleged culpability in the crime — for not being honest with officers and not telling them her husband had a gun.

“The DA is considering them (criminal charges), but it doesn’t look promising,” Montenegro said.

Systemic failures

Montenegro also noted during her briefing the multiple contacts Flores had with law enforcement in the months prior to the shooting. According to Flores’ wife, she said, Flores began using PCP — a hallucinogen known to cause violent behavior — in March 2022 after his cousin died and that the drug “changed his personality.”

“He started beating her and just started going a little bit more crazy than normal,” Montenegro said.

On March 14, 2022, Flores was arrested by sheriff’s deputies in the City of Industry for having a loaded gun in his glove department. At the time, he was on probation for another gun offense.

Flores subsequently was charged for being a felon in possession of a firearm not registered to him and being in possession of a controlled substance with a loaded firearm. He posted bail and was subsequently granted probation even though he was an admitted gang member, Montenegro said.

Two months later, Flores was arrested in West Covina in a fraud case, Montenegro said.

In May 2022, Flores’ parents called police to report their son was acting erratically, yelling at passing vehicles and talking to himself, and that family members were holding him down on their front lawn. Flores was taken to a hospital on a psychiatric hold and later released, Montenegro said.

During her 911 call, Zepeda told Bonneau that the week prior, Flores had choked her daughter and left her for dead in Pico Rivera and that police had a report of the incident. And only three days prior, Flores showed up at her home with a gun. She said police came to her home and a police helicopter was even deployed.

And though Zepeda reported on the 911 call that her daughter had been stabbed, police later learned her injuries were minor.

“It was very superficial,” Montenegro said. “But mom did not know that when she called.”

Criminal justice failures

Some of the justice system’s failures regarding Flores were detailed in a scathing report by the Los Angeles County Office of Inspector General released in August 2023.

The OIG determined, among other things, that the county Probation Department failed to properly monitor Flores and act on pertinent information regarding allegations of domestic violence, gun possession and illegal drug use, and failed to alert local law enforcement that Flores may be armed with a gun and dangerous.

Flores had three outstanding warrants for his arrest, two from San Bernardino County and one from Los Angeles County, at the time of the shooting, and the Probation Department did not run a warrant check on Flores until just days before the shooting, when Flores missed his final appointment, according to the OIG report.

Police chief responds

El Monte Police Chief Jake Fisher said he stands by the actions of his dispatchers and officers.

“The El Monte Police Department continues to mourn the loss of our officers, Sergeant Michael Paredes and Officer Joseph Santana,” Fisher said in a statement. “Together we are moving forward as we collectively continue to grieve and recover from the horrific event.”

Fisher said his department is actively working with the Sheriff’s Department and the District Attorney’s Office in completing the final steps in the investigation.

Sheriff’s and district attorney investigators have interviewed all relevant witnesses, reviewed all police camera footage, CAD reports, call logs and have “found no wrongdoing by our police officers or civilian personnel,” Fisher said.

“We fully anticipate this finding to hold and that our DA will officially clear all involved officers and close the investigation,” Fisher said.

Related links

Probation Department ignored red flags about gang member who killed El Monte police officers, OIG says
Gang probe launched after deaths of 2 El Monte officers nets arrests
Family of fallen El Monte officer plans to sue the Probation Department, D.A. Gascón
Fallen El Monte police officers remembered as family men
‘They watched those boys grow up:’ Mourning for fallen El Monte police officers likely to reverberate for years

Dispatcher still on leave

Jauregui, a police dispatcher of more than 20 years and the daughter of retired El Monte Police Chief Tom Armstrong, declined to comment for this story. She hosts a podcast called 911 Strong, has modeled for Recoil, a firearm lifestyle magazine, and has been profiled in other publications.

Although city officials would not provide information on Jauregui’s employment background and current job status, officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said she is still employed at the department but has been on paid leave for the past several months. Sanchez also was reported to be on leave.

On Monday, Jauregui’s website hinted she was no longer actively working as a dispatcher.

“As a dispatcher for over two decades, Kristen Jauregui has seen and heard a lot, which brought on unexpected compassion fatigue & burnout. She didn’t want to leave the force, but she knew something had to change, so she turned to physical fitness and personal development mindset work,” the website said.

By Friday, several days after a reporter reached out to her, the website had been taken down.

​ Orange County Register 

Rebecca Grossman isn’t the driver responsible for deaths of 2 young brothers, her attorney says

• January 27, 2024

By TERRI VERMEULEN KEITH

VAN NUYS — A co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation was speeding when she ran down two young brothers in a Westlake Village crosswalk, a prosecutor told jurors Friday, but the woman’s attorneys insisted she wasn’t the driver responsible for the deadly crash — which they contend occurred outside a crosswalk.

Rebecca Grossman, now 60, was charged in December 2020 with two felony counts each of murder and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, along with one felony count of hit-and-run driving resulting in death, in connection with the Sept. 29, 2020, deaths of 11-year-old Mark Iskander and his 8-year-old brother, Jacob.

Deputy District Attorney Ryan Gould told jurors that Grossman was speeding in a white Mercedes-Benz SUV on Triunfo Canyon Road and struck the two boys as they were crossing the street with their mother in a marked crosswalk.

One of Grossman’s attorneys, Tony Buzbee, countered that the evidence would show that Grossman is “not guilty because she didn’t do anything and someone else did.”

The defense attorney acknowledged that no one saw a vehicle driven seconds ahead of Grossman by former Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson — described by the prosecutor as Grossman’s boyfriend — strike the children, but said the defense will prove that Erickson’s vehicle hit the children first, and the victims “hit Mrs. Grossman’s car” about three seconds after the initial collision.

Erickson was previously charged with misdemeanor reckless driving in a case that was separately filed, but that charge was dismissed after he completed a diversionary program.

In his opening statement, the prosecutor told jurors that a passenger in a car behind Grossman’s vehicle saw the white Mercedes-Benz strike Jacob.

“It is a well-marked crosswalk, and this is where our worlds collide,” Gould said, noting that Grossman and Erickson were in separate vehicles heading back to her house on the lake to watch the presidential debate that night.

The Rebecca Grossman case

Jury selection begins in murder trial of Grossman Burn Foundation co-founder over double-fatal crash
Murder charges stand against Grossman Burn Foundation co-founder in boys’ crosswalk deaths
Rebecca Grossman, co-founder of Grossman Burn Foundation, ordered to stand trial on murder charges
Attorney: Former Dodger pitcher Scott Erickson was not driving recklessly, not responsible for fatal Westlake Village crash
Rebecca Grossman, suspected in crash that killed 2 boys in Westlake Village, released on $2 million bail

“They didn’t have a chance,” the deputy district attorney said of the two boys.

The prosecutor alleged that Grossman was “flooring it to get herself up to 81 mph on a 45 mile-per-hour street” and driving just over 70 miles per hour at the time of impact. He said she wouldn’t have hit the boys if she had been driving at the speed limit.

“She continues to go past … and doesn’t stop for over a third of a mile away. … She never goes back to that crosswalk,” Gould said.

The prosecutor noted that blood testing done on Grossman after the crash determined she had alcohol and Valium in her system, but she is not charged with driving under the influence. Jurors don’t need to find her guilty of that in order to convict her of the charges, he said.

The defense attorney countered the prosecution’s allegation that the defendant was speeding, saying that “Mrs. Grossman was going 52 miles per hour at best.” He contended that the data used by the prosecution’s expert from the vehicle’s so-called black box was not reliable.

Buzbee maintained that Grossman didn’t leave the scene and accused law enforcement of failing to adequately investigate the crash, saying it was “not the best investigation you’ve ever seen.”

Buzbee insisted that a separate vehicle — Erickson’s — went through the intersection 2 1/2 seconds before Grossman.

“We will show you that is the vehicle that hit the two children first,” Buzbee said, adding that “multiple eyewitnesses either heard or saw two impacts,” with some saying they occurred three seconds apart and others saying they happened five seconds apart.

Buzbee told jurors that debris collected at the scene proves that there were “at least two impacts, likely three,” but he said investigators rushed to judgment to accuse Grossman of killing the boys, when in reality, “the car in front of her actually hit the children.”

He said the evidence will show that the children were not in the crosswalk — which he said was improperly marked — when they were struck. He also denied contentions that Grossman left the scene, saying she was so close to her home that she could have gotten out of her car and walked home if she really intended to flee.

Buzbee alleged that Erickson stopped up the road, hid in the bushes and watched after the collision.

He said the defense would ask the jury to “use your courage and find Mrs. Grossman not guilty.”

Testimony is set to begin Monday in the Van Nuys courtroom, with the victims’ mother, Nancy, expected to testify that day.

Sheriff’s officials said after the crash that family members were crossing the three-way intersection — which does not have a stoplight — in the crosswalk when the mother heard a car speeding toward them and both parents reached out to protect two of their children, but the two boys were too far out in the intersection and were struck.

The older boy died at the scene, and his 8-year-old sibling died at a hospital.

Grossman allegedly continued driving after striking the boys, eventually stopping about a quarter-mile away from the scene when her car engine stopped running, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

In a conversation with an operator through a Mercedes-Benz service following the crash, Grossman said she didn’t know if she had hit anyone and that she was driving when her airbag exploded.

“I don’t know what I hit,” she said in the recording when a 911 operator was patched in and asked if she had hit a person.

Grossman is free on $2 million bond.

She was ordered to stand trial in May 2022 by Superior Court Judge Shellie Samuels. Superior Court Judge Joseph Brandolino, who is presiding over the case, subsequently denied a defense motion to dismiss the murder charges.

The defendant — who could face up to 34 years to life in prison if convicted as charged — is the wife of Dr. Peter Grossman, who is the director of the Grossman Burn Centers and son of the center’s late founder, A. Richard Grossman.

Rebecca and Peter Grossman were separated at the time of the crash, according to a statement by her husband posted on the website supporting her.

She is a co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation and a former publisher of Westlake Magazine.

Brandolino said at the start of the jury selection process that he expected the trial to last about six weeks.

​ Orange County Register