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A car crash in Florida this February left Daniel Waterman critically injured and, for a time, in a coma. Eventually he recovered enough that police investigators tried to communicate with him. He could barely talk, so police pointed to letters on a board while he made sounds to indicate which letters he wanted to use, his mother said. Over the course of an hour and a half, police say, he told investigators that the crash was no accident: His girlfriend had done it intentionally. Waterman, who grew up in New York’s Liverpool area, told police that he and his girlfriend argued as they traveled down Interstate 95 in Flagler County on Sunday night, Feb. 9, according to court documents. His girlfriend, Leigha Mumby, who had recently discovered she was pregnant, was arguing with Waterman about texts he sent to a woman back in New York, his mother Heather Waterman told syracuse.com | The Post Standard. She said her son told her he was texting with the friend about the Super Bowl that night because Waterman was a Kansas City Chiefs fan and the friend was a Philadelphia Eagles fan. As they argued, the woman began to drive recklessly, Waterman told police. When the car slowed down to about 50 mph, Waterman unsuccessfully tried to open the door and roll out. She then began to speed up to between 80 and 90 mph, Waterman told police. The last thing Waterman remembered her saying was “I don’t care what happens, you’ll get what you deserve,” he told investigators. The car then swerved off the road and crashed into a tree. Investigators said in court papers they found that Waterman’s recollection of the crash was backed by the vehicle’s event data recorder. In July, Florida police arrested Mumby, 24, of Flagler Beach, Florida. She was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and reckless driving causing serious bodily injury. Waterman was taken back to Syracuse in late July, his mother said. At Upstate University Hospital, his condition improved. He was out of bed and in a wheelchair doing physical therapy and talking about starting a sports podcast, she said. But pneumonia took Waterman’s life on Oct. 8 at Upstate. He was 22 years old. “He never gave up,” his mother said. “This whole entire time, he literally never gave up.” On Monday, Mumby was also charged with vehicular homicide, according to court records. A complicating factor in the criminal case may be the statement Waterman made to police saying Mumby crashed the car on purpose may not be admissible in court, his mother said. A lawyer told the family since Waterman cannot be cross-examined the court may not allow the statement to be used, she said. Meanwhile, his death has also opened the doors to a complicated interstate paternity battle over Mumby’s baby. Waterman’s mother said she thinks the baby is his child. He was preparing to be a father, taking online parenting courses in August, while his mother sat by his side in the hospital and helped him use the mouse on her laptop, she said. However, because he died before paternity was established, his family’s rights in the baby’s future are limited, she believes. She said his dying wish was for them to get custody of the child. “We’ll do whatever we can do to bring her to us,” she said. “He wanted her raised in New York with his family.” She told syracuse.com | The Post Standard she is determined to fight in court to prove he is the child’s father and try to gain custody. Waterman graduated from Liverpool High School in 2022. A sports fan, he had a particular affinity for basketball, which he played both in school and on AAU teams in Central New York, his mother said. She said when he was little, she nicknamed him “monkey” to compliment his fearless and energetic personality. “I would turn around, and he would be on top of a dresser, and I’m like ‘How did you get there?’” she said. “He hit the ground running all day, and he didn’t stop until he was sleeping.” As he entered young adulthood, Daniel enjoyed traveling and experiencing different cultures, his mother said. He’d been to Greece, Egypt, Jordan and the UAE. He had worked jobs in landscaping and construction, but he was hoping to pursue a career involving sports. Waterman had been in Florida for a family vacation and to do a side job with his uncle’s roofing company when the crash happened, his mother said. Growing up, Waterman’s biological father was not a big part of his life, his mother said. If he’d been given the chance to raise Mumby’s baby, he was intent on showing up for the child, she said. “He told me, ‘I’m never going to break a promise to her,’” she said. “He said, ‘I’m always going to be there for her.’”
