Florida Man Finally Agrees to Leave Boat After Declaring He'd Stay Through Hurricane Milton

A man in Florida who refused to leave his small boat multiple times in the past few days has finally agreed to evacuate before Hurricane Milton smashes into the coast … despite previously telling cops in a viral video they would need to forcibly remove him.

The seafarer reportedly named Joseph Malinowski — known affectionately as “Lieutenant Dan” on TikTok — ignored multiple warnings from Tampa police to leave his vessel … all while a Category 4 storm remains on track to smash into Florida’s Gulf Coast.

A clip of Dan’s interaction — posted by TikToker “Tampa Terrence,” who has been chronicling Lt. Dan in recent months — shows the sea captain refusing a police officer’s request to leave.

The officer — who Tampa Terrence claims is Chief of Tampa PD Lee Bercaw — tells Dan the police will come back the following day to forcibly evacuate him … and, Lieutenant Dan says he’ll see him tomorrow ’cause he’s not going anywhere.

However, we’ve spoken with a rep for Tampa Police … who tells us they don’t actually forcibly remove people. Thankfully, they say, Malinowski has finally informed them he will actually evacuate the boat.

Malinowski — a one-legged man who got his nickname from the character in the 1994 film “Forrest Gump” — has talked in several videos about why he originally planned to stay on the water … saying God originally told him to buy the boat, and he believes the Almighty has his back.

As for people’s calls saying Hurricane Milton would tear through his ship … Lt. Dan pointed to the story of Noah’s Ark — saying everyone on land drowned, but Noah and his family, and the animals, survived on a boat.

Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. It comes just weeks after Hurricane Helene devastated the Southeastern U.S. … reportedly killing at least 227 and displacing thousands more.