Dorsa Khoddami’s tennis lesson had just ended when a loud sound stopped everyone on the Westlake Village courts.

“I had never heard anything like it before,” she said of the noise, testifying at Rebecca Grossman’s murder trial this week. “It was just very alarming and loud.”

She thought she heard a second sound and then screaming. Khoddami, 16 at the time, ran toward the noise coming from the nearby road. She called 911 thinking it must be a car crash, she said.

On Sept. 29, 2020, Mark and Jacob Iskander were struck and killed while crossing Triunfo Canyon Road with their mom and younger brother. Prosecutors say Grossman was driving her white Mercedes SUV 73 mph when she hit the boys in the crosswalk. The speed limit on the road is 45 mph.

Mark, 11, likely was knocked unconscious and died within minutes if not seconds, a forensic pathologist previously testified. Paramedics rushed Jacob, 8, to Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks where he was later pronounced dead.

Grossman, 60, of Hidden Hills, has been charged with two counts of murder, two counts of vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run driving. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

On Thursday, Grossman’s lead defense attorney asked Khoddami if she remembered hearing two distinct sounds. The defense team has said the boys were hit by multiple vehicles and another driver hit them first.

She thought so, Khoddami said, but it was more than three years earlier and she couldn’t exactly recall. She remembered a chaotic scene that night. Her mom had described the aftermath of the crash as a war zone, Khoddami said in the Van Nuys courtroom.

Defense blames other driver

Grossman’s attorneys said a black SUV driven by their client’s then-boyfriend Scott Erickson passed through the crosswalk first.

His vehicle hit the boys, causing Mark to vault over the SUV and land on Grossman’s hood, a defense witness said Thursday. The longtime accident investigator based in Texas pointed to damage on Grossman’s SUV, saying it matched one impact, not two.

But several other experts have testified her SUV’s damage matched both boys’ injuries and was inconsistent with a child landing on top of her hood. The grille was broken and lip of the hood pushed back several inches.

In the crosswalk, the boys’ mom, Nancy Iskander, had grabbed her youngest son, the closest one to her, and dove out of the path of the black vehicle. She testified she saw the black vehicle pass without hitting anyone. She looked up and saw the white Mercedes SUV go through the spot where her other sons had just been, she said.

After the crash, Grossman didn’t stop until the Mercedes crash safety features cut off the fuel, prosecutors have said.

In 2021, Erickson was charged with reckless driving, a misdemeanor. The court ordered judicial diversion, and the case was later resolved.

Blood drawn hours after crash

A retired Texas police officer told jurors this week that Grossman was not impaired after the crash.

Both prosecution and defense experts have said a Los Angeles County deputy made mistakes when he gave her field sobriety tests. But while the District Attorney’s Office experts said the evidence in the case showed Grossman was impaired, the retired sergeant called by her defense team disagreed.

“I would say the majority of the evidence points to not intoxicated or not impaired,” Don Egdorf said, responding to questions from one of Grossman’s defense attorneys, also from Texas.

She had roughly 1 ½ drinks over more than two hours before driving toward her home near the lake, witnesses have testified. More than an hour after the crash, her breathalyzer results showed blood alcohol levels of 0.076% and 0.075%. The legal limit in California is 0.08%.

After she was arrested, a deputy drove Grossman to the same emergency room where paramedics had taken Jacob. Her blood was drawn for testing around 10:15 p.m.

The Los Angeles County sheriff’s lab analysis showed a blood alcohol level of 0.08% and detected a small amount of valium. An Orange County sheriff’s lab analysis later found a blood alcohol level of 0.075%.

Headed to watch a presidential debate

Grossman had been driving to her home near Westlake Lake after having drinks with Erickson, a former professional baseball player, and his friend Royce Clayton. The three planned to meet up at Grossman’s house to watch the presidential debate, Clayton testified earlier in the trial.

Erickson drove away in his black Mercedes SUV, and Grossman drove her white Mercedes SUV. Clayton, also a former professional baseball player, had stopped at a grocery store. When Grossman left the restaurant to drive home, Clayton testified she did not seem impaired.

Earlier this week, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office reported Clayton, 54, of Westlake Village, had been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. The arrest happened at a DUI checkpoint in the Thousand Oaks area early Sunday morning, according to the sheriff’s office.

Clayton was cited and released. He has not yet been charged by the District Attorney’s Office.

Cheri Carlson covers the environment and county government for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at cheri.carlson@vcstar.com or 805-437-0260.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Tennis player, experts testify in Rebecca Grossman murder trial