A Florida man who went viral for his commitment to riding out Hurricane Milton in his 22-foot sailboat has survived the storm.
Joseph Malinowski earned the moniker “Lieutenant Dan” on social media, after the character from the 1994 film “Forrest Gump.”
As Milton approached Florida, Malinowski told reporters he wouldn’t evacuate. Instead, he would hop in his sailboat and ride out the storm in Tampa Bay.
“I put my faith in God. I don’t put my faith in man,” Malinowski said in a TikTok that went viral. “God told me to come out here and get a boat. I came out here and got a boat. Everything he’s been telling me the last few days, I’m doing the right thing. He got my back. I’m in good shape. I ain’t sweating it.”
Malinowski was nicknamed “Lieutenant Dan” in part because his left leg is amputated below the knee, similar to the movie character who lost both his legs during the film. In “Forrest Gump,” the title character and Lieutenant Dan ride out a hurricane on a shrimp boat and survive.
And similarly, Malinowski survived Milton, though it appears unlikely he will go on to lead a market-leading shrimp company.
“The hand of god was over Tampa,” Malinowski said Thursday morning in a livestream. “It wasn’t too bad.”
Before Milton made landfall Wednesday, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said authorities had relocated Malinowski to a shelter ahead of the storm, but observers found him Thursday morning on the boat in Tampa Bay, safe and sound. As the storm approached, he refused multiple offers for help and insisted on remaining in the bay.
