Helicopter crash victim recovering at Basile home

One of two Eunice-area men injured in a recent helicopter crash in the Gulf of Mexico has returned home.
Nick Miller of Basile is in stable condition and in a back brace for the next three months due to sustaining four fractured vertebrae and two compression fractures. He was in the same helicopter crash that left the pilot dead and one Eunice man, Peter LeBlanc, Jr., in a New Orleans hospital.
Scott Miller, father of Nick Miller, said that while no surgery is scheduled for his son, the recent weeks have been very trying for his son and family.
“He’s been at home since the wreck,” said Scott Miller. “They released him that night to come home.”
Scott Miller said that he was the one who informed Tara Fruge LeBlanc about the accident that involved her husband Peter LeBlanc, Jr.
“It was kind of a shock for both of us,” said Scott Miller. “When I found out I was very disturbed. When I called her, man, I never had to tell nobody no information like that in my life.”
After receiving the news of their loved ones’ involvement in the helicopter crash, Scott Miller said that the car ride to New Orleans with his wife, Nikki Miller, and Fruge LeBlanc was an emotional roller-coaster.
“We had to stop three or four times for people to throw-up,” he said.
While Scott Miller said that he felt that his son was lucky enough to be in stable condition, he said the effects of the trauma could be  long-term for his son.
“We’re kind of in the dark,” said Scott Miller. “We’ve talked to a few doctors. Once a week he goes back to a (medical) doctor and he’s also going to a psychiatrist, a counselor to talk with him because they put that dead body of that pilot on that boat with him. And he got to see all of that...he was pretty shook up.”
Scott Miller said that when the rescue boats came, they pulled Peter LeBlanc, Jr. and another unknown crash victim onto one boat. And the dead pilot was pulled into the same boat as Nick Miller, making it a “traumatic” experience for his son.
Nick Miller described the wreck to his father, according to Scott Miller.
“He talked about like a popping noise or a whining noise from the engine,” said Scott Miller. “They lifted up off the platform and they went straight into the water. It wasn’t like they left and flew away, they just went straight in the water.”