NewsMV
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.
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