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.