ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The case of a deadly drunk driving crash is over but the campaign to stop it from happening again lives on.

If you’re on 490 driving through downtown Rochester, pay attention to one of the billboards and you will see the face of Gene Kulp.

“If you get an opportunity to see this sign, that smile, that was Gene all the time,” said his cousin Alvin Ruffle.

Kulp was a truck driver killed by a drunk driver last September. Kulp’s family met News10NBC’s Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean at the billboard Tuesday after the sentencing of the man who hit and killed him.

Tuesday morning, the family filed into the courtroom at the Hall of Justice. The defendant, Jeff Eden, dressed in all black, followed the Kulp family inside. Our camera was not allowed inside. Eden got one to three years in prison after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter and DWI.

The Kulp family signed off on the deal but when we talked to some of them, including Kulp’s mother, you can tell, in their hearts, they’re not satisfied.

“I thought he should have got longer time,” said his mother Joyce Kulp. “But it was sad. I don’t think [Eden] showed any remorse.”

“The family not only approved but was in favor of this disposition,” said prosecutor Tony Diperna.

Rochester police say last September, Eden was drunk when he crashed into the back of Kulp’s tractor-trailer on Lexington Avenue in the city. Kulp was working outside the back of the trailer when he was hit and killed.

After court, we followed Kulp’s family to the billboard along 490 downtown. One says “Justice for Gene” and describes him as a son, brother, best friend, father, and grandfather. The second says “drinking and driving doesn’t destroy just one family.”

And that’s a message from his brother Tuesday.

“It doesn’t just destroy one family. It destroys two,” brother Robert Kulp Jr. said. “[Eden’s] family as well.”

“If we can just keep one other family from going through the pain we have felt it feels like we have accomplished something for my brother,” said brother Chris Kulp.

The family started advocating for change and safety the same month Kulp was killed. They posted videos from last September that show volunteers handing food to truck drivers and with a reminder to stay safe.

Gene Kulp grew up in Victor and Springwater, down near Dansville. He lived in Red Creek, Wayne County.
He is survived by his mom, fiance, two brothers and sisters, five children, and three grandchildren.

According to the 2022 annual report of Monroe County Stop DWI, 10 people were killed by a drunk driver that year. Ten is pretty much the average.

The report shows drunk driving crashes with injuries have started to go down over five years but arrests in Monroe County are still half of what they were before COVID-19 which is the result of many factors including more ride-sharing and fewer dedicated DWI police patrols beginning in 2020.