Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
A woman who says she’s the daughter of Joseph Malinowski, 54 — a Tampa, Florida man who went viral and was dubbed “Lieutenant Dan” for his decision to ride out the approaching hurricanes Helene and Milton on his boat — is worried that his sudden fame and donations from wellwishers will put her father at risk.
Ashley Ann Malinowski voiced her concern in a series of TikToks on Friday.
“Lieutenant Dan was doing just fine without all that money,” she told viewers in one video.
“Y’all TikTok f***ing famous people, y’all blowing him up and he’s gonna be dead before he can f***ing enjoy that boat and stuff. Because look at him, after y’all got a hold of him and now he’s high as f*** on all these videos.”
His sudden viral fame would put him in an “early grave” she continued.
“Yes, I’m his f***ing daughter and I had to keep tabs on that man for 10 years trying to make sure that he is alive, and now he’s gonna get all of this and probably end up dead because of it.”
Joseph Malinowski became the subject of social media fascination and multiple high-profile news interviews when a local TikTok creator featured the Florida man, who said he would attempt to wait out the approaching storms.
“I don’t fear the storm,” Malinowski told NBC News in an interview from his boat. “I don’t fear anything but the government, the police, the mayor — everyone is trying to get me to leave in the worst way.”
Tampa officials briefly took him to a shelter on Wednesday, though he reportedly returned to his boat the same day.
Terrence Concannon, the TikTok creator who originally shared Malinowski’s story ahead of the approaching Hurricane Helene, eventually posted a GoFundMe page for him, which was soon inundated with more than $46,000 in donations.
Video creator Adin Ross also caught wind of Malinowski, and offered him a streaming deal and upwards of $50,000 to buy a new boat.
Concannon, in a TikTok of his own on Friday, said he’d gotten “numerous death threats” after helping make “Lieutenant Dan,” named for the character in Forrest Gump, go viral.
“It was never supposed to be this whole thing,” Concannon said, describing Malinowski as a man whom he befriended and hoped to help get some money for a new boat and transportation.
Concannon said Malinowski lacked a government ID, which was making it difficult to transfer all of the funds to him, but that he was working with Tampa Police to remedy the situation.
As The Independent reported, Malinowski has a lengthy criminal record.
As recently as August, he was charged with a misdemeanor for selling, operating or using a vessel without certificate of title in Hillsborough County, which encompasses Tampa. That case is still open.
Local Florida outlet WUFT reported that in April 2022, Malinowski was released after a one-year prison sentence in a felony case for punching a police officer in the nose.
In February of 2023, Malinowski allegedly poured a one-gallon container of gasoline onto a bench during an argument with a woman who was smoking nearby, igniting it, according to an affidavit seen by The Independent. Malinowski then “splashed” the woman with fuel, according to the document. The woman was unharmed, but said she “feared for her life.”
A judge later ordered Malinowski to house arrest and noted his “violent history,” but multiple reports note that the case was dropped a month later for unspecified reasons.
The Independent was unable to locate Malinowski for comment.
Mike Bedigan contributed reporting for this article.
