St. Jude Nurse Dies, Passenger Is Hurt in Fullerton Crash

A woman was fatally injured and her passenger was trapped in their car Friday night when it collided with another car and both vehicles flipped, Fullerton police said.

Lois Sposa, 40, of Placentia was driving home from work at St. Jude Medical Center at 5:15 p.m. when her Jeep Cherokee collided with a Toyota at North Harbor and Brea boulevards. Sposa, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the vehicle, Police Lt. Tony Hernandez said. She died about five hours later at UCI Medical Center in Orange.

Her passenger, Susan Roggelin, 29, of Placentia, also an employee at St. Jude, was pinned under the Cherokee. Firefighters had to use the Jaws of Life to free her.

Roggelin was in serious but stable condition Friday night at UCI Medical Center.

The two people in the Toyota were not injured.

The accident occurred when the Cherokee, which was going south on Harbor, reached the intersection at the same time as the Toyota, which was eastbound on Valley View Drive, Hernandez said. Although the crash is still under investigation, Hernandez said that Sposa may have veered sharply, causing her car to flip.

Sposa was a nurse on the heart catheterization team at St. Jude, and Roggelin works in the radiology department, according to the hospital.

Police closed off Harbor Boulevard in both directions after the accident, bringing traffic to a virtual standstill, Hernandez said.