Viral sensation 'Lieutenant Dan' arrested for boat being 'public health hazard': police
A Florida amputee known as "Lieutenant Dan" who was riding high for virally claiming he was refusing to leave his small home boat ahead of Hurricane Milton has now been arrested for failing to leave a park-side dock, the Tampa Police Department tells Fox News Digital.
Police say that Joseph Malinowski, 54, did not have an accessible device to discharge sewage from his unregistered vessel and did not have a record of proper disposal of waste, which was creating a public health hazard.
Malinowski failed to move after "numerous warnings" and was arrested at around 7:30 a.m. Friday at Bayshore Linear Park and Dock. Officers said they had met with Malinowski the day before when he was instructed to leave the park.
Malinowski was taken into custody on Friday and transported to Orient Road Jail. The unregistered vessel was impounded.
He’s being charged with two outstanding warrants for failure to appear and one misdemeanor charge of trespassing in a city park after warning, police say.
Malinowski's occupation was listed as "TIK TOK STAR" while his arrest inquiry lists him as unemployed, per WTSB. A representative for Malinowski tells TMZ that his team is working to bail out the viral sensation.
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.
He went viral for claiming he would ride out Hurricane Milton earlier this month in his 20-foot-long boat as the storm barreled towards Tampa.
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.
However, the mayor of Tampa, Jane Castor, said he had been taken to a shelter before the storm hit. Live TikTok feeds and news interviews indicated he was still on the boat refusing to leave the vessel.
Malinowski told Fox News Digital after the storm had passed that he "wasn’t going anywhere."
"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."
"It’s a boat," he said. "You keep the water out of the boat, you’ll be fine."
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Malinowski had previously 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.
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.
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.