By Patrick Hedlund, Trevor Kapp and Amy Zimmer
DNAinfo Staff
MANHATTAN — A person was injured after being struck by debris Tuesday afternoon that fell from "Friends" star David Schwimmer's East Village townhouse that's currently under construction, fire officials said.
The debris caromed off a scaffold and struck the person, the FDNY said. They were taken to Bellevue Hospital with a minor arm injury.
The incident at 331 E. Sixth St. occurred about 2:40 p.m., fire officials said. It was not immediately clear whether the man injured was a worker at the site or someone passing by.
The six-story mansion rising been the focus of neighborhood controversy. The original 1852 structure was torn down to make way for the new townhouse currently under costruction, drawing fire from preservationists.
Schwimmer bought the property in 2010 for $4.1 million in 2010.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission sent him letters to inform him that the building was being considered for historic designation, but he went ahead and razed it, according to the New York Post.
"It's going up very quickly," Anna Sawaryn, who lives nearby, said of the East Sixth Street structure. "The building wasn't there a few weeks ago, and now it's there. It seems to be going up quickly."
A 62-year-old woman who has lived on the block for 37 years and only gave her first name, Charlotte, was still angry that Schwimmer tore down the historic building.
"Mr. Bigshot made a mistake tearing down this building," she said. "He paid a pretty penny and built some shiny silver thing. He's like a wart on the block. He doesn't belong here."