Former Westlake Village High School football star and NFL player will be sent to prison after pleading guilty to killing a California Lutheran University professor in a 2020 drunk-driving accident.
THE NIGHT OF THE DRUNK-DRIVING ACCIDENT
On November 15, 2022, 41-year-old Mike Seidman pleaded guilty to felony gross-vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated on October 16, 2020. Seidman caused a head-on collision that killed 88-year-old Fred Rosenberg.
Rosenberg worked as a CLU professor for a significant number of years. He was still teaching classes and volunteering with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department before the crash.
Seidman was driving northbound in a silver pickup truck on Erbes Road approaching Hauser Circle. He lost control of his vehicle and veered into the path of Rosenberg. They both collided head-on.
According to the DA’s office, Seidman had alcohol and marijuana in his system during the crash.
THE AT-FAULT DRIVER’S DUI HISTORY
The District Attorney’s office agreed to a four-year sentence in return for Seidman’s plea. Seidman was facing 10 years in prison. Shortly after the crash, he was free on $250,000 bail. He is due to be sentenced on January 24.
On the night of the crash, Seidman was driving with a suspended license. On August 4, 2019, he was arrested on suspicion of DUI after crashing his car near Avenida de Los Arboles and Westlake Boulevard and then leaving the scene.
The four-year sentence agreement covers both the 2019 and 2020 cases. When asked about why it took over two years for the case to be resolved, the DA said that “A lot of cases were backlogged.”
AT-FAULT DRIVER BACKGROUND
Mike Seidman in 2019 when he spoke about his path to the pros at a Boy Scout dinner at Lang Ranch Elementary School. Source: TO Acorn.
Mike Seidman was a thousand oaks resident and local youth sports coach. As a High School senior in 1998, he was the Ventura County Football Coaches Association Offensive Lineman of the Year.
He had a successful career at UCLA and then was drafted in the third round of the 2003 NFL draft by the Carolina Panthers.
He played four seasons in Carolina and made one Super Bowl appearance with them in his rookie year. His fifth and final season was with the Indianapolis Colts.
Knee injuries cut his career short.
Seidman was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.
At the time of his arrest, Seidman was working as a broker in Los Angeles for the commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield.
THE VICTIM’S BACKGROUND
CLU Professor Fred Rosenberg. Source: TO Acorn.
According to the TO Acorn, Rosenberg was a senior adjunct biology faculty member at California Lutheran University. He has taught at the school since 1999.
Rosenberg graduated from Northeastern University in Boston with a specialization in environmental and public health applications of microbiology.
Rosenberg was currently teaching environmental and medical microbiology in two-unit seminars. CLU spokesperson, Karin Grennan, revealed that those classes “covered topical subjects using case studies, current news, and journal articles.”
One of his students explained that “Dr. Rosenberg wants you to learn above all else…He is understanding, kind, and a great professor full of interesting stories and anecdotes.”
AFTERMATH OF THE DRUNK-DRIVING ACCIDENT
Our hearts go out to Fred Rosenberg’s family. Accidents like these should never happen and it is a true tragedy one does occur.
If you have any questions regarding a DUI Accident case, you should contact a DUI Accident Attorney immediately.