Joseph Malinowsky, the Florida man known as “Lt. Dan,” has been arrested in Tampa. He gained social media fame with TikTok posts as he rode out two recent hurricanes aboard his small sailboat.

Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office arrest records show Malinowsky, 54, was arrested Friday for trespassing and failure to appear in court on previous charges of operating an unregistered vehicle and having no valid driver’s license.

Malinowsky became social media famous in the days before Hurricane Milton after rejecting officials’ pleas to seek shelter. He instead remained in his boat while the Category 3 storm’s powerful winds battered Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Malinowski was unfazed, describing the experience as “pretty mellow,” even though his boat was repeatedly slammed against a harbor wall during the worst of the storm.

“I’m not scared of anything,” Malinowski told CBS News’ Cristian Benavides after the storm.

As the storm intensified, Malinowski recounted how the wind picked up, causing his boat to crash against a wall in the harbor. To prevent further damage, he cut his anchor line, sacrificing a $250 anchor now resting on the bay floor.

“I was getting bashed against this wall, so I went out and cut my anchor line to get away from it,” he said.

Despite the danger, Malinowski remained calm, crediting his composure to his faith. 

“God told me to come here,” he said, explaining that five years ago, he left Colorado and moved to Florida.

“I’ve been in Florida for five years, stuck on the East Coast,” Malinowski said. “… I found this boat for 1,200 bucks. I bought it. I come to Tampa, and guess what? Can’t flood, not today, not yesterday.”

Malinowsky, whose nickname comes from a character in the movie “Forrest Gump” who rides out a hurricane in a boat, remained jailed Saturday, according to online jail records. Court records do not list an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

On Friday, the actor who played Lt. Dan in the 1994 film served lunch to deputies in Pinellas County, which is a neighbor to Hillsborough County in Tampa Bay.

“We were honored to have Gary Sinise himself, the actor who portrayed the iconic Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump, in attendance and even serving our members showing his unwavering support for our law enforcement community. Your generosity and kindness means the world to us!” read a Facebook post from the sheriff’s office.

contributed to this report.

Inside a community center in one of most Chicago’s violent neighborhoods, there’s a surprising sense of calm and an unexpected promise of peace. 

A new program, called She Ro, invites women at high risk from gun violence to come to the center four days a week for a year to learn ways to cope with trauma, anger and grief. Program developer Christa Hamilton said She Ro aims to “show (women) an exit,” and provides coaching in the life skills that can put them on a different path. 

Many of the women participating have lost a loved one to gun violence, which 21-year-old participant Kayla Medina says is “contagious” on Chicago’s West Side. Medina lost both her sister and boyfriend to shootings, and said that she has found herself caught in the crossfire of gun violence “a million times.” 

“Every time I walk out the door, there’s always something happening,” Medina said. “It’s always some gunshots.” 

She Ro is one of multiple community violence interventions in Chicago, where $300 million has been pledged for such programs in underserved and disinvested communities. Community violence intervention aims to stop crime before it happens. Trained specialists establish relationships with people at the highest risk of being victims or perpetrators of violence. The specialists also provide support services and often respond to crime scenes, working to de-escalate tensions and derail retaliatory attacks.

“The police cannot do this alone,” Chicago police superintendent Larry Snelling said. “This is a societal issue. I don’t want to go this alone. I don’t want my officers to go this alone.” 

The University of Chicago’s Chico Tillman has studied the cost of crime and the return on investments in intervention. 

“When you think about it, when a homicide takes place, there’s an investigation. The case goes to court. The case gets prosecuted. (There’s) incarceration if they are found guilty. All the medical bills,” Tillman said. “It costs society as a whole anywhere from $1.4 million to $2.5 million every time somebody is shot.” 

While men make up the majority of people shot or shooting, the number of women here involved is rising. Hamilton said that last year, 90 women in the area were killed by gun violence and nearly 500 more were shot. 

For those in the She Ro program, the community program is a step forward. 

“It hurts me to be around all this, but She Ro helps,” one participant said. 

Dr. Céline Gounder

Dr. Céline Gounder, an internist, epidemiologist and infectious disease specialist, is a CBS News medical contributor as well as senior fellow and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News.