Britt Jones
A man who was left in a coma following a car crash woke up long enough to accuse his girlfriend of a crime before his death.
Daniel Waterman, 22, from New York, was the passenger in a car his girlfriend, Leigha Mumby, 24, was driving in February on Interstate 95 in Florida’s Flagler County.
However, at some point during the drive, the pair got into an argument, court records say.
Mumby had recently found out she was pregnant before the car careened into a tree, leaving Waterman with severe injuries.
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While Waterman survived the ordeal and awoke from his coma, he sadly passed away on October 8 after contracting pneumonia.
But before his death, he made a chilling accusation, his mother Heather told syracuse.com.
In May, he was able to use a whiteboard to communicate with investigators and shockingly claimed that Mumby crashed the car on purpose.
He claimed she told him in the car: “I don’t care what happens. You’ll get what you deserve.”
According to an arrest affidavit obtained by People, she and Waterman were fighting after he received a text message from a woman in New York.
His mother, Heather, said he was texting the woman as she was a friend and a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles.
She said Waterman was a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs, with both teams playing against each other during the Super Bowl.
But when Mumby saw he was texting another woman, court docs claim she eventually started driving recklessly before veering into a tree.
Mumby was also badly injured in the crash but made a recovery, while Waterman was transferred from Florida to Upstate University Hospital.
“He never gave up,” Heather said. “This whole entire time, he literally never gave up.”
In July, Mumby was charged with reckless driving causing serious bodily injury and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
However, after Waterman's death, her charges have been upgraded to vehicular homicide.
Now, Waterman’s family is fighting for the custody of their pair’s daughter.
“We’ll do whatever we can do to bring her to us,” the mother said. “He wanted her raised in New York with his family.”
On a GoFundMe set up by the family, a statement said: "Daniel was an excited, soon-to-be father of a baby girl. He wanted nothing more than to come home to her and to the family who loved him so dearly.
"There was not a day that went by that he didn’t express that he just wanted to come home. Eight long months of suffering."