A well-known Baton Rouge plastic surgeon and Opelousas native, Dr. Lucius "Tre" Doucet, has died in a Nashville plane crash, along with two of his three children.
His medical practice posted an announcement this morning. Doucet had practiced in Baton Rouge for 30 years, an "exceptional surgen but also a compassionate man," the post states.
Our sister Scripps station WTVF in Nashville reports about the crash here.
They report that officials believe the plane broke apart in the air. Audio from Air Traffic Control discussed the plane starting to descend from 9,000 feet. It talked about the plane having options to land 16 miles north. Its last communication to the plane was that air traffic controllers saw the plane heading back south. The control tower kept trying to reach the plane — it's not clear how the pilot responded from the audio. The plane was owned by Doucet and he was the pilot, officials say.
The bio on his practice website says he "raised three brilliant children in Baton Rouge who are now in the fields of medicine and engineering. He enjoys spending time with his family and friends when he is not pursuing his favorite hobby, aviation. As in aviation, technology is always improving in cosmetic surgery."
LSU posted that two of those children, Giselle and Jean-Luc, were on the plane with him and died in the crash as well. They were both seniors at LSU who were scheduled to graduate tomorrow.
A close family source tells KATC that they were going to visit his third child, who lives in Louisville, Kentucky.
That family source continued to say:
"Lucius Doucet was a loving father, friend, and son. He took his work as a surgeon seriously when it came to caring for his patients," The family is in shock as they process the loss of an incredible human with a loving soul."
A pilot close to the family says, "Doucet was a great guy and a very skilled pilot."
He went on to say: "The plane Dr. Doucet used for travel is known as the Dr. Killer and is an aircraft that is very intricate to operate, especially in unfavorable weather conditions."
Here's the post from Dr. Doucet's practice:
