One-legged sailor nicknamed “Lieutenant Dan” becomes a viral sensation refusing to leave his boat Milton has built up a rap sheet a mile long before storming into Tampa – including arrests for assaulting a policeman and allegedly trying to burn a woman by pouring gasoline on her last year.
Joseph Malinowski, 54, nicknamed for his resemblance to the double-amputee sailor played by Gary Sinise in “Forrest Gump,” led to dozens of arrests in North Carolina and Florida in at least 2006, court records show. .
It also appears he is not from the Tampa area. His most recent busts were out of South Florida.
Malinowski was featured on livestreams on The Weather Channel, CNN and with TikToker “Tampa” Terrence Concannon, who has nearly 500,000 followers.
Concannon, 23, later set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to buy a larger ship for Malinowski, which has raised more than $40,000 as of this writing, calling him “the kindest soul who could.” Always ready to help.” The page is active as of Thursday afternoon.
Many of the charges involve arrests for traffic offenses or failure to appear in court, but he’s been busted for everything from drug possession to attempted vandalism and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
They even have an open criminal case out of Tampa regarding the 22 foot Catalina The boat in which he rode out the storm Even his.
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 he caused a disturbance by yelling and breaking glasses.
According to an arrest report, when a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputy tried to handcuff him, Malinowski became aggressive and punched him in the nose.
The deputy tried to subdue the unruly captain by punching him, who was hit in the face by broken glass on the bar floor.
He was charged with battery against a law enforcement officer and pleaded not guilty, but served a year in prison after a jury convicted him.
A recent and disturbing incident came last February, when a woman reported she had gotten into an argument with Malinowski, who was sitting on a concrete bench at 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 her on fire.
The argument continued to escalate and the woman – who was smoking a cigarette at the time – said Malinowski then sprayed gas on her in an attempt to set her on fire.
Records allege she called 911 out of fear for her life and grabbed Malinowski’s crutches so she couldn’t use them as a weapon or run away before help arrived.
Malinowski uses crutches to help him walk, after his left leg was amputated above the knee following a scooter accident nearly 40 years ago.
He was arrested on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, but the case was dropped after a month for reasons that were not made clear and could not immediately be determined.
His credentials as a responsible seaman are also quite weak.
Last March, Malinowski was accused of leaving an abandoned 26-foot sailboat — called the Roan Inish — sunk “on its side and in front of a seawall” in Lantana, South Florida, according to court documents. ” was found.
However, prosecutors later declined to pursue the case in court due to the terms of the plea deal.
When Hurricane Milton was impacting Florida, Malinowski became famous on the Internet for refusing to evacuate his ship despite threats of arrest. Dire warning from Tampa Mayor Jane Castor,
At a news conference on Wednesday, Castor claimed that the Nomad captain was eventually convinced to seek shelter, but shortly afterward he was seen on his boat docked in Tampa Bay.
“I know the mayor of Tampa said in her press conference that Lieutenant Dan went to a shelter. He didn’t do that, I’m standing right here.” NewsNation correspondent Brian Antin Tweeted Just before noon, with a photograph of Malinowski poking his head out of the canvas covering the cabin of his sailboat.
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