‘Lieutenant Dan’ from viral Hurricane Milton video has rap sheet a mile long

The one-legged sailor nicknamed “Lieutenant Dan” who became a viral sensation for refusing to abandon his ship in Tampa before Hurricane Milton has a rap sheet a mile long, including the arrests for hitting a policeman and allegedly trying to set up a woman. set it on fire by dousing it with gasoline last year.

Joseph Malinowski, 54, nicknamed for his resemblance to the double-amputee sailor played by Gary Sinise in “Forrest Gump,” racked up dozens of arrests in North Carolina and Florida since at least 2006, according to court records show.

He also doesn’t even seem to be from the Tampa area. His most recent busts were in South Florida.

Malinowski has appeared on The Weather Channel, CNN and on a live stream with TikTokker “Tampa” Terrence Concannon, who has nearly 500,000 followers.

Concannon, 23, later set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for Malinowski to buy a bigger boat, which as of this writing has raised more than $40,000, calling him “the kindest soul” who she is “always ready to lend a hand”. The page remains active as of Thursday afternoon.

Many of the charges are traffic offenses or failure to appear in court, but he’s also been arrested for everything from drug possession to attempted break and enter and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

He even has a criminal case open in Tampa over whether the 22-foot Catalina sailboat he rode out of the storm even belongs to him.

In May 2021, Malinowski was arrested for allegedly refusing a manager’s request to leave the Brogues Down Under bar in Lake Worth, Florida, after causing a disturbance by shouting and breaking glasses.

As the responding Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy tried to handcuff him, Malinowski became aggressive and punched him in the nose, according to an arrest report.

The deputy punched him back to subdue the rowdy patron, who received a laceration to the face from broken glass on the bar floor.

He was charged with assault on a law enforcement officer and pleaded not guilty, but served a year in prison after being convicted by a jury.

A more recent and disturbing incident occurred last February, when a woman reported arguing with Malinowski, who had been sitting on a concrete bench on Lake Worth Beach about 20 feet away.

During the argument, Malinowski allegedly approached the woman and poured gasoline on the bench right next to where she was sitting and set it on fire.

The argument continued to escalate and the woman, who was smoking a cigarette at the time, said Malinowski doused her with gas in an attempt to light it.

She called 911, fearing for her life, and grabbed Malinowski’s crutches to prevent him from using them as weapons or escaping before help arrived, records show.

He was arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon but the case was dismissed a month later for reasons that were not explained and could not be immediately determined.

His credentials as a responsible surfer are also shaky at best.

Last March, Malinowski was accused of abandoning an abandoned 26-foot sailboat, named the Roan Inish, which was discovered “on its side and submerged against a wall” in Lantana, South Florida, according to court documents.

However, prosecutors later declined to pursue the case in court due to the terms of a plea deal.

As Hurricane Milton approached Florida, Malinowski became Internet famous for stubbornly refusing to evacuate his boat, even under threat of arrest and dire warnings from Tampa Mayor Jane beaver

At a press conference Wednesday, Castor claimed the nomadic skipper had finally been persuaded to take refuge, but was seen on his sailboat docked in Tampa Bay a short time later.

“I know the mayor of Tampa just said in his press conference that Lt. Dan went to a shelter. He didn’t, I’m right here,” NewsNation correspondent Brian Entin tweeted shortly before noon on next to a photo of Malinowski poking his head out of the fabric covering the cockpit of his sailboat.