“I DO NOT FEEL WELL ENOUGH TO WORK TODAY”!!! BELIEVE IT OR NOT, PROSECUTORS SAY A 75-YEAR-OLD SCHOOL BUS DRIVER CAUSED A FATAL CRASH THAT KILLED AN OPELIKA BUSINESS OWNER… AND SHE HAS NOW BEEN CRIMINALLY INDICTED ON TWO HOMICIDE CHARGES.
A 75-year-old school bus driver is facing criminal charges after a fatal collision in Alabama.
Theresa McCloud was indicted by a Lee County grand jury in connection with the 2025 crash.
The grand jury returned indictments on two separate charges.
McCloud has been charged with homicide by vehicle.
She also faces a charge of criminally negligent homicide.
McCloud was booked into the Lee County Jail on Thursday.
Court records show her combined bonds were set at $12,000.
On November 18, 2025, the fatal crash claimed the life of 42-year-old Jennifer Leigh Cooper.
Cooper was a resident of Auburn.
She was a wife and a mother.
She was also the owner of Gigi’s Cupcakes in Opelika.
According to a civil lawsuit filed by her husband, Cooper was traveling to work when the collision occurred.
The crash happened shortly after 8 a.m.
The collision took place in the 1000 block of East University Drive at Alfa Court.
Cooper was pronounced dead at the scene.
Students were aboard the school bus at the time of the impact.
No students on the bus were reported injured.
Police have not publicly released detailed information explaining what investigators believe caused the crash.
But serious allegations regarding McCloud’s condition before getting behind the wheel have emerged in a civil lawsuit.
Cooper’s husband, James Patrick Cooper, filed the separate civil complaint.
According to the lawsuit, McCloud allegedly told Auburn City Schools supervisors that she did not feel well enough to work that day.
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The lawsuit further alleges that McCloud had visited a doctor two days before the fatal crash.
During that visit, she had allegedly been prescribed opiates to treat her symptoms.
Attorneys for Cooper’s family allege the medication carried a warning concerning driving while taking it.
The complaint also cites McCloud’s alleged history of diabetic episodes.
According to the lawsuit, McCloud was instructed to immediately pick up elementary school students.
Instead, the civil complaint alleges, she attempted to drop them off at Auburn High School.
She reportedly spent several minutes there.
Then she departed again and headed toward the elementary school.
At approximately 8:04 a.m., the fatal crash occurred.
The lawsuit alleges McCloud lost control of the bus because of “either her known medical conditions, her use of opiates and/or a mix of both.”
Cooper died in the collision.
Her husband’s lawsuit contends that previous diabetic episodes severely impaired McCloud’s ability to safely operate a vehicle.
The filing asserts that her alleged use of opiates impaired her ability to perform her responsibilities as a school bus driver.
And those claims remain allegations within a civil complaint.
Police have not publicly confirmed that medication caused the crash.
Investigators have not publicly confirmed that a diabetic episode took place.
Police have not confirmed that a combination of the two caused the collision.
The claims raised in the lawsuit have not been proven.
McCloud now stands indicted on the two criminal charges.
An indictment is not a conviction.
She is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
The charges are allegations and have not been proven in court.
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