Man wakes up from coma to blame girlfriend for causing car crash before dying

A father-to-be woke up from a coma long enough to accuse his girlfriend of deliberately causing the crash which led to his death.

Back in February, Daniel Waterman has travelling with his girlfriend Leigha Mumby along a highway in Florida when the car swerved from the road and crashed into a tree.

The crash left Waterman with extensive injuries, including spinal injuries and trauma to his head and face, leaving the 22-year-old in a coma. Meanwhile Mumby, who was pregnant at the time of the crash, survived her injuries and has since given birth to a baby girl.

Waterman was later stabilised and transferred from Florida to a hospital in his home city of Syracuse, New York, where he briefly regained consciousness.

The 22-year-old was recovering from his injuries when he died from pneumonia (Facebook/Tiffany Waterman)

During this time, Waterman was able to communicate with police in May and accused Mumby of deliberately crashing the car.

According to a affidavit obtained by PEOPLE, Waterman claimed he and Mumby were arguing after he received a text message from a woman from New York. His mother has since stated the pair were friends and texting about the Super Bowl.

As the couple continued to argue, Waterman claimed that Mumby had began to drive increasingly erratic, speeding up to around 80 and 90 mph.

He alleged that Mumby told him: "I don't care what happens, you'll get what you deserve," before driving the car into a tree.

Waterman's condition had begun to improve while in hospital and he was able to begin physical therapy after regaining consciousness.

However he would later develop pneumonia, which claimed his life on 8 October.

"He never gave up," his mother, Heather Waterman, told local outlet Syracuse.com. "This whole entire time, he literally never gave up."

Meanwhile Mumby has since charged with vehicular homicide in the wake of Waterman's death. She was previously charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and reckless driving causing serious bodily injury back in July.

(Flagler County Sheriff's Office)

Waterman's family are now in the process of starting a legal battle to establish paternity and gain custody of the child. "We’ll do whatever we can do to bring her to us,” Heather told the outlet, revealing that her son had been taking online parenting classes and was looking forward to becoming a father.

"He wanted her raised in New York with his family."

"It's our mission in life that if that child is his, that we take that child and teach her what her dad was all about," his grandfather Michael Gilman added to CNYcentral.

"She has to know him through our actions, through our memories. We will not let him be gone."