A Florida man known as "Lieutenant Dan" had TikTok viewers around the world on the edge of their seats waiting for Hurricane Milton to pass through Tampa in hopes he survived after he chose to ride out the storm in his small sailboat. And he did survive.
"I wasn’t going anywhere," Joseph Malinowski told Fox News Digital during an interview after the storm. "I never planned on leaving. The storm didn’t scare me because I didn’t see it. I didn’t write it. I didn’t make it happen."
Despite pleas from local residents, law enforcement officials and the mayor of Tampa, Jane Castor, to leave and seek shelter, Malinowski chose to stay put with his boat tied to Bayshore Boulevard near Tampa General Hospital. He also rode out Hurricane Helene in the same boat.
"It’s a boat," he said. "You keep the water out of the boat, you’ll be fine."
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Castor spoke during a press conference Wednesday night and said the man the Tampa community refers to as "Lieutenant Dan" had been taken to a shelter. But live TikTok feeds and news interviews indicated he was still in his boat refusing to leave the vessel.
Malinowski's "Lieutenant Dan" nickname appears to have come from his resemblance to the "Forrest Gump" character with the same name, played by actor Gary Sinise. Malinowski is missing part of his left leg and uses crutches to get around.
"Did the wind come through heavy? Yeah. Was it crazy for a little while? Yes, it was. Did it bother me? No, ‘cause I knew what I was doing," Malinowski said.
"I know I’d be fine," he said. "God had his finger on me."
Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida on Wednesday evening as a Category 3 storm, shocking the Tampa Bay community that was already reeling from Hurricane Helene, a Category 4 storm that barreled through Southeast Florida in late September, damaging homes and killing over 200 people across Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
Malinowski went viral on social media platforms when users understood he was adamant about remaining in place.
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He caught the attention of TikToker Adin Ross, who offered to purchase "Lieutenant Dan" a $50,000-$100,000 boat and initiated a full-time live stream TikTok deal where Malinowski could document his "voyages" and produce income for the lone sailor via social media.
However, Ross rescinded the offer when he found Malinowski’s lengthy criminal record, which includes arrests for hitting a police officer and allegedly trying to set a woman on fire, according to the New York Post.
"He offered it to me. I never asked for it," Malinowski told one TikToker who recorded him live. "If you’re worried about your image and who you have working for you, you should have done your due diligence and looked me up before you made me an offer of $100,000 sign-on bonus, $50,000 a month with a $100,000 boat."
His other past charges include drug possession, attempted breaking and entering and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, according to the New York Post.
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Despite backlash, Malinowski said he plans to ride out all future Tampa hurricanes in his boat, though the New York Post reported an open case in which the boat’s ownership came into question.
Malinowski said as Milton inflicted damage upon Tampa Bay and "cosmetic damage" to the boat, he started talking to God and meditating.
Wind gusts in St. Petersburg, fewer than 25 miles from Tampa, increased to 102 mph, according to FOX Weather.
During meditation, Malinowski told Fox News Digital, he envisioned a ring around him that he believed might have protected him from striking the channel’s wall. When he became distracted from meditation, he said he thrashed against the dock again, causing more damage.
Ahead of Hurricane Helene, Malinowski said he tied his anchor lines to the Bayshore Boulevard dock. He says he experienced a "peaceful night" and slept around 4½ hours before waking up in his boat away from the dock and near Harbour Island, which shares the channel with Bayshore.
"There was one time when it was bad. It was really windy," Malinowski said of Hurricane Milton. "I mean, the wind really picked up, and it was ripping through here, and I’m bouncing around."
