Theresa McCloud, Auburn school bus driver, faces vehicular homicide charge after fatal crash kills bakery owner Jennifer Cooper

Theresa McCloud, 75, surrendered to Alabama authorities on September 4, 2026 to face vehicular homicide and criminal negligence charges tied to a November 18, 2025 school bus crash in Auburn that killed Jennifer Leigh Cooper, 42. Cooper, a well-known local bakery owner, died after the Auburn City Schools bus McCloud was driving struck her vehicle. The case now turns on two competing accounts: McCloud's supporters say she suffered a sudden medical emergency, while a civil lawsuit filed by Cooper's husband describes what the driver knew before she got behind the wheel.

The lawsuit names both McCloud and the Auburn City Schools Board of Education as defendants. At its center is a two-day timeline. McCloud visited a doctor two days before the crash and was prescribed opiates. Those medications carried a warning label against driving while taking them. The suit states that on the day of the accident, McCloud told her supervisors she was not feeling well. The filing argues she lost control "based on either her known medical conditions, her use of opiates and/or a mix of both," and further asserts that the combination "severely impaired her ability to drive any vehicle and made her unable to perform her duties as a bus driver."

McCloud's supporters offer a different account. A GoFundMe page set up on her behalf, since removed, stated her blood sugar dropped to 23 mg/dL while she was driving, producing confusion and loss of consciousness. The page cited doctors who confirmed the episode constituted a medical crisis and noted that McCloud had no prior history of low blood sugar events. Her family reportedly disputes the lawsuit's characterization of events.

McCloud turned herself in on September 4, more than nine months after the crash. Both the criminal proceedings and the civil suit against her and the school board are now active. Auburn City Schools has not publicly addressed the complaint.