‘The favorite Auntie’: Woman who died after a car struck her wheelchair remembered at sentencing for the vehicle’s driver

She was more than just an unhoused person.

That’s the way Sharon Cary-Irvine would like the world to remember her sister, Tracey.

In 2024, Tracey Cary was struck and killed by a 39-year-old driver in Lower Merion as she crossed City Avenue in a wheelchair.

The driver, Jamal McCullough, assessed his vehicle for damage before fleeing the scene without helping her or calling police, prosecutors said. He turned himself in to authorities after reports of the collision — and his photograph — aired across local news outlets.

On Friday, McCullough was sentenced in Montgomery County Common Pleas court to serve three to six years in a state prison, the mandatory minimum for such a crime. While prosecutors said he was not at fault in the fatal collision because Cary was crossing outside of a posted crosswalk, they said his actions after the crash were criminal.

For Cary-Irvine, the hearing was a chance to offer the public a more complete image of her late sister.

Cary, 61, was an avid reader who loved children, traveling, and the outdoors, according to Cary-Irvine. She was a fan of spelling bee competitions, and she had a sense of humor: she was known for calling up her nieces and nephews and speaking to them as Cookie Monster, her sister said.

“She had a love of people — babies were her specialty,” Cary-Irvine said. “She was the favorite Auntie. To know Tracey was to love Tracey.”

Cary was also a mother to a son who is in his 20s, her sister said, and she held a variety of jobs throughout her life, working for the Philadelphia School District, St. Joseph’s University, and later UPS.

She was a singer of gospel songs, and grew up attending Union Tabernacle Baptist Church in West Philadelphia.

Before Cary’s death, the siblings’ father died from COVID-19, leading Cary to struggle with mental illness, her sister said. Soon she was living on the street.

It was on the street where McCullough struck Cary shortly after 2 a.m. on Nov. 11, 2024.

Surveillance footage showed that McCullough, of East Germantown, struck Cary with enough force to eject her from her wheelchair. After checking on his vehicle, he walked within feet of Cary’s body but did not stop to help her, prosecutors said.

The father of two was en route to a shift as a sanitation worker with Waste Management.

During his sentencing, McCullough apologized for the incident, which he said was an accident.

“I want to apologize for my ignorance, apologize for maybe how I went about things,” McCullough said.

“If I could take it back, I definitely would.”

Minutes earlier, Cary-Irvine read a victim impact statement aloud, telling the court that, in her view, McCullough acted “entitled and without remorse” that morning.

“This sentence is not about revenge — it’s an opportunity, perhaps your last, to reflect honestly on your life,” Cary-Irvine told McCullough.

“If you do not learn from your mistakes,” she continued, “you will repeat them.”