A young father-to-be from upstate New York who slipped into a coma after a violent Flagler County car crash stunned authorities after briefly regaining consciousness — and accusing his girlfriend of deliberately causing the wreck.
After leveling the charge, Daniel Waterman, 22, later died from his injuries on Oct. 8.
Waterman and his girlfriend, 24-year-old Leigha Mumby, were driving along Interstate 95 in Flagler County on the night of the Super Bowl back in February when an argument turned lethal.
Investigators said the fight escalated after Mumby discovered she was pregnant and saw that Waterman had received a text message from a woman in New York.
According to court documents, Waterman’s mother, Heather Waterman, later told investigators that the message was an innocent exchange about football — Waterman was a Kansas City Chiefs fan, while the woman rooted for the Philadelphia Eagles.
The disagreement, however, erupted quickly inside the car.
Waterman told authorities that Mumby grew enraged,
“I don’t care what happens,” she allegedly hissed. “You’ll get what you deserve,” before veering off the road and crashing into a tree.
Both suffered severe injuries, but Waterman’s were life-threatening, leaving him in a coma for months.
In May, he regained limited consciousness and was able to communicate with investigators by scrawling on a whiteboard.
Waterman accused Mumby of intentionally crashing the vehicle.
Mumby, who survived and later gave birth to her baby, initially told investigators she could not remember what cause the accident.
She was initially charged in July with reckless driving causing serious bodily injury and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Those charges have since been upgraded to vehicular homicide after Waterman’s death.
Waterman had been transferred to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse in July as his condition improved slightly, but he succumbed to pneumonia three months later.
“I still can’t believe he was a victim in the horrific act of violence,” his mother said in a wrenching Facebook post days before his death. “He told us he wants justice. Please pray for him, pray for us, and whatever is in store.”
Now, the Waterman family is turning its attention to the baby, vowing to prove Daniel’s paternity and bring the infant from Florida to New York to be raised by his relatives.
Mumby’s legal case is ongoing.
