Georgia Man Fined $1.4 Million for Speeding by New Electronic System

A Georgia man was hit with a $1.4 million ticket for going 35 miles per hour over the limit.

Connor Cato was pulled over by Georgia State Patrol while speeding through Savannah on September 2 when he was hit with the massive fee, he told WSAV-TV. Cato admitted that he was caught going 90 miles per hour in a 55 zone.

What shocked him was the seven-figure amount on the ticket he was handed.

'This might be a typo': Chatham County man receives $1.4M speeding ticket https://t.co/sApF3RY9n1 via @WSAV

— WSAV News 3 (@WSAV) October 12, 2023

“$1.4 million” it read, which Cato thought was some sort of typo.

It turned out the number was generated by the local court’s citation software.

When Cato called the court, he was told to either pay up or show up to court.

“‘$1.4 million,’ the lady told me on the phone. I said, ‘This might be a typo’ and she said, ‘No, sir, you either pay the amount on the ticket or you come to court on Dec. 21 at 1:30 p.m.,'” he recalled.

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Sneh Patel, a criminal defense attorney, told the local outlet that he had never seen such an exorbitant fine set for a misdemeanor like speeding.

“Not $1.4 million — that’s something that goes into cases that are drug trafficking, murders or aggravated assaults, something of that nature,” he said to WSAV.

Fortunately, Cato will not be bound by the computer system which handed him the monstrous fine.

As the New York Post reported, the “staggering” fine was automatically applied to “super speeders,” which includes anyone caught going 35 miles per hour or more over the speed limit.

In a statement from a spokesperson for the city of Savannah, it was clarified that a judge will set the real fine to be paid, which won’t exceed $1,000.

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While Cato is facing a mandatory court appearance, “We do not issue that placeholder as a threat to scare anybody into court, even if this person heard differently from somebody in our organization,” Peacock said in a statement:

The programmers who designed the software used the largest number possible because super speeder tickets are a mandatory court appearance and do not have a fine amount attached to them when issued by police.

According to the New York Post, Savannah has been using this e-system since 2017, but is “working on adjusting the placeholder language to avoid any confusion.”