The one-legged, sailboat-dwelling Florida man affectionately nicknamed “Lieutenant Dan” is OK after riding out Hurricane Milton’s wrath in Tampa Bay — despite the mayor insisting he went to shelter ahead of the powerful storm.
The sailor who went viral for refusing to leave his ship never left his boat, which he lives in, as Milton swelled to a Category 5 hurricane before making landfall south of Tampa as a Category 3 storm with 120 mph winds.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor claimed that Tampa police “just saved Lieutenant Dan” during a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
“He has been rescued, and he is now in a shelter as well. If we can get Lieutenant Dan to go to a shelter, we can get anybody to do that,” she told reporters.
But Lieutenant Dan, whose real name is Joseph Malinowski, was spotted on his small sailboat docked in Tampa Bay just moments later.
“I know the Mayor of Tampa just said in her press conference that Lieutenant Dan went to a shelter. He didn’t, I’m standing right here,” NewsNation correspondent Brian Entin tweeted just before noon alongside a photo of Malinowski popping his head out of the canvas covering his sailboat’s cabin.
Entin returned to check on Malinowski — who’s been nicknamed “Lieutenant Dan” in a nod to Gary Sinise’s seafaring amputee character in “Forrest Gump” — after Milton made landfall and found his sailboat tied to a dock in Tampa Bay, where water had been dragged out by the storm.
He called out to “Lieutenant Dan” a few times before the top of the sailboat cabin opened up and the reporter asked if the stubborn sailor was OK, according to a video he posted shortly before midnight.
“I’m fine,” Malinowski said nonchalantly as he popped his head out.
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“Right now I’m doing fine,” he said looking around at the low water level. “I’m stuck here. I can’t go anywhere.”
As Milton moved through the Gulf Coast, Malinowski joined a live stream with TikTokers including Tampa Terrence.
Malinowski said the wind was strong and sent him “banging into the wall a few times but that was to be expected” during the livestream.
“Dan is still alive, guys. Dan is alive. He’s buzzing,” the TikToker who launched a GoFundMe for the internet star said. “The Tampa mayor said he evacuated, he did not evacuate. He’s still on the boat.”
Earlier in the day, Malinowski shrugged off those pleading he evacuate to higher grounds.
“The safest place to be in a flood is on a boat. We learned that with Noah. Everyone that stayed on land drowned,” Malinowski told reporters.
“If the tide goes up, I go up. As long as the water stays out of the boat, I’ll be fine.”
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