A Florida man known as “Lieutenant Dan” had TikTok viewers around the world waiting on the edge of their seats for Hurricane Milton to pass through Tampa, hoping he survived after choosing to stay in his small sailboat to weather the storm. And he survived.

“I wasn’t going anywhere,” Joseph Malinowski told Fox News Digital during an interview after the storm. ‘I never intended to leave. The storm didn’t scare me because I didn’t see it. I didn’t write it. I didn’t let it happen.’

Despite pleas from local residents, law enforcement officials and Tampa Mayor Jane Castor to leave and seek shelter, Malinowski chose to stay with his boat tied to Bayshore Boulevard near Tampa General Hospital. He also rode in the same boat through Hurricane Helene.

“It’s a boat,” he said. “If you keep the water out of the boat, you’ll be fine.”

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Speaking at a news conference Wednesday evening, Castor said the man the Tampa community calls “Lieutenant Dan” had been taken to a shelter. But live TikTok feeds and news interviews indicated he was still in his boat and refusing to abandon ship.

Malinowski’s nickname “Lieutenant Dan” appears to have arisen from his resemblance to the eponymous character “Forrest Gump”, played by actor Gary Sinise. Malinowski is missing part of his left leg and uses crutches to get around.

“Did it rain hard? Yes. Was it crazy for a while? Yes, it was. Did it bother me? No, because I knew what I was doing,” Malinowski said.

“I know I’m doing well,” he said. “God had his finger on me.”

Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida Wednesday evening as a Category 3 storm, shocking the Tampa Bay community already reeling from Hurricane Helene, a Category 4 storm that tore through Southeast Florida in late September, damaging homes and more killed more than 200 people across Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

Malinowski went viral on social media platforms as users understood his determination to stay put.

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He caught the attention of TikToker Adin Ross, who offered to buy “Lieutenant Dan” a $50,000-$100,000 boat and started a full-time livestream TikTok deal where Malinowski could document his “travels” and generate social media revenue for the only sailor. .

However, Ross withdrew the offer when he discovered Malinowski’s lengthy criminal record, which included arrests for punching 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 a TikToker who recorded him live. “If you’re concerned about your image and who you have working for you, you should have done your due diligence and looked me up before making me an offer of a $100,000 sign-on bonus, $50,000 a month with a $1 boat 100,000.”

His other past charges include drug possession, attempted burglary and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, according to the New York Post.

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Despite the backlash, Malinowski said he plans to weather all future hurricanes in Tampa with his boat, although the New York Post reported an open case questioning the boat’s ownership.

Malinowski said that while causing damage to Tampa Bay and “cosmetic damage” to the boat, Milton began talking to God and meditating.

According to FOX Weather, wind gusts increased to 100 miles per hour in St. Petersburg, less than 25 miles from Tampa.

During the meditation, Malinowski told Fox News Digital, he imagined a ring around him that he thought would have protected him from hitting the canal wall. When he was distracted from meditation, he said he hit the dock again, causing even more damage.

Before Hurricane Helene, Malinowski said he tied his anchor lines to the Bayshore Boulevard dock. He says he had a “peaceful night” and slept about 4.5 hours before waking up in his boat, away from the dock and near Harbor Island, which shares the channel with Bayshore.

“There was one time it was bad. It was very windy,” Malinowski said of Hurricane Milton. “I mean, the wind has really picked up, and it’s ripping through here, and I’m bouncing around.”

Original article source: Viral Tampa sensation ‘Lieutenant Dan’, who rode out Hurricane Milton in a boat, describes how he survived