As it turns out, “Lieutenant Dan” was not the hero we all thought – or at least hoped – he was.
When Hurricane Milton had its sights set on the west coast of Florida, the state called for residents to evacuate. But one man that was positioned in the Tampa Harbor refused to budge, and that Florida Man became known to the world as “Lieutenant Dan.”
The one-legged man, whose actually name is Joseph Malinowski, ended up riding out the storm in his 20-foot sailboat without much trouble. However, the storm of attention that has come after the fact hasn’t worked out all that well for Malinowski.
Shortly after he rose to internet fame, internet sleuths did some digging and found that the Florida Man the world had become obsessed with actually had quite the troubled past. And his tumultuous existence spills across state lines, since he has around 14 mugshots in the state of Florida, and 28 in North Carolina. That’s over 40 mugshots for those keeping track at home.
Now to be clear, a lot of Malinowski’s arrests were from things like outstanding warrants, or petty crimes like driving without a license. However, one of the arrests from his time in Florida is very serious, and revolved around “Lieutenant Dan” allegedly trying to set a woman that was bothering him on fire.
According to a report from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, Malinowski got into an argument with a woman by the name of Sarah Perry, who happened to be smoking a cigarette some 20 feet away from the now-viral-sailor. “Lieutenant Dan” apparently poured gasoline on a concrete bench between them, and when she started to walk his way, he splashed Perry with gasoline.
Obviously, a lit cigarette could have easily ignited the gasoline, which made the woman fear for her life. She called 911, and in a weird detail including in the filing, someone there with Perry and Malinowski moved his crutches so the one-legged man couldn’t get away. Malinowski claimed he only poured gasoline on the bench in an attempt to “burn residue off,” but the authorities concluded that he intentionally doused the woman with gasoline, which landed him with a charge of aggravated battery.
Needless to say, “Lieutenant Dan” might not be the hero we all hoped he would be. In addition to the “fire-setting” revelation, Malinowski recently had a Kick streaming deal taken away from him because he dropped a racial slur on a livestream. He also was banned from utilizing TikTok’s live feature because of a homophobic rant he went on while streaming live earlier this week.
