Left inset: Leigha Mumby (Flagler County Sheriff’s Office). Right inset: Daniel Waterman (GoFundMe). Background: Daniel Waterman in the hospital after Leigha Mumby allegedly caused a car crash in Florida that left him critically injured (GoFundMe).
A man awoke from a coma in Florida after being critically injured in a car crash with his pregnant girlfriend and allegedly told police that she “intentionally” caused it. The 22-year-old New York native is now dead, and his girlfriend is facing charges.
“I don’t care what happens, you’ll get what you deserve,” Leigha Mumby, 24, told Daniel Waterman before swerving off the road and “colliding with a tree, making Daniel incapacitated,” according to a criminal complaint.
The court document outlines what Waterman allegedly told police on May 15 after waking up from his coma, a little over three months after the Feb. 9 crash along Interstate 95. He sustained a “C6-7 fracture, cervical spine injury, clavicle fracture, femur fracture, hip dislocation, epidural hematoma, pneumothorax with pulmonary contusion, zygomatic and temporal contusion, [and a] talus fracture,” according to the complaint.
Waterman was unable to talk, so police reportedly pointed to letters on a board and asked him to make sounds to indicate which ones he wanted to use to spell out words, according to his mom, who spoke to Syracuse.com.
On Oct. 8, Waterman died after developing pneumonia.
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“He never gave up,” his mother said. “This whole entire time, he literally never gave up.”
Mumby is now facing a vehicular homicide charge, along with reckless driving with serious bodily harm and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon resulting in bodily harm, which she was charged with in July after Waterman woke up and told police what allegedly happened.
“In his interview, Daniel stated that he and Leigha were in an argument due to personal issues with Leigha finding out she was pregnant that day and a text message Daniel received from a female friend in New York,” the investigator who interviewed Waterman explained in the complaint. “Daniel and Leigha exchanged expletives. Daniel stated, Leigha began driving recklessly.”
According to Waterman, Mumby slowed down the 2019 Honda Passport they were in to 50 mph and he tried to get out of the car before she sped up to 80 to 90 mph, according to the complaint. Daniel stated that the “last thing he remembers before the crash” was Mumby allegedly telling him she didn’t care what happened and he was getting what he deserved.
A cousin of Waterman’s told FlaglerLive.com that Mumby texted her from Waterman’s phone just minutes before the crash, saying, “This is what he gets for being a liar and a cheater.” The cousin, Jessica Stappenbeck, recalled speaking to Waterman earlier in the day about the pregnancy.
“During the day, he did say, he didn’t know what he was going to do, and he didn’t like how Leigha was handling the situation,” Stappenbeck told FlaglerLive. She said the couple had plans to watch the Super Bowl at Stappenbeck’s house that day. They reportedly left before the end of the game and got onto I-95 heading south before turning around at Palm Coast Parkway and traveling north, according to police.
The two of them were allegedly arguing over the pregnancy and texts that Waterman sent to a woman in New York.
“Leigha made these statements and immediately swerved off the road to crash her car,” the complaint says.
Waterman’s family says his last dying wish was for them to get custody of the child, a baby girl, that Mumby was pregnant with. “We’ll do whatever we can do to bring her to us,” his mother told Syracuse.com. “He wanted her raised in New York with his family.”
Mumby has posted bond and is awaiting her next court appearance, scheduled for Nov. 19.
