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'Scrubs' Creator Rescued From Seaplane in East River

By  Ben Fractenberg and Katherine Lavacca | July 21, 2017 5:55pm | Updated on July 24, 2017 8:37am

MANHATTAN — "Scrubs" creator Bill Lawrence was one of 10 people saved from a seaplane that was damaged while taking off in the East River Friday afternoon, according to officials and his Instagram account. 

 

Our sea plane. Going to go drink tequila continuously. #Lucky

A post shared by Bill Lawrence (@vdoozer) on

The plane was taking off on the way to the Hamptons at about 5:30 p.m. when one of the wings was damaged, an NYPD spokeswoman said. The plane, which only made it a few feet into the air, quickly turned around and landed back in the river near East 23rd Street. 

Lawrence told reporters the plane hit the water lightly while taking off and then came "down harder and a flotation device came out." He added that he was with his daughter and was "more worried about her."

An FAA spokeswoman said "a pontoon broke causing the plane to list to the left" after landing back in the water. 

Lawrence and other passengers got off the plane and were seen sitting on one of its pontoons in yellow life jackets while FDNY and NYPD harbor units approached in a boat, according to the video of the incident and officials. 

They were taken off the craft onto a rescue boat and taken to a pier on 23rd Street, according to the NYPD. 

The "Scrubs" creator seemed to take things in stride. 

"Going to go drink tequila continuously. #Lucky" he posted on his Instagram account.