Imagine the sheer shock on a Georgia man’s face when he was slapped with a speeding ticket that came with a jaw-dropping fine of $1.4 million!
On Sept. 2, Connor Cato was making his way home when the Georgia State Patrol pulled him over for speeding at a whopping 90 miles per hour in a 55-mile-per-hour zone, according to a report by local news outlet WSAV-TV.
In Georgia, there's a "Super Speeders" fine imposed on drivers hitting speeds of 75 mph or higher on 2-lane roads or 85 mph or faster on other roads and highways, so Cato knew he was about to get a hefty fine, but never in a million years did he think it was going to be so high.
Since he was in Savannah, which enforces court appearances for drivers exceeding 35 mph over the speed limit, and fines are determined by a judge, he called the court, thinking it may have been a typo.
“$1.4 million, the lady told me on the phone,” Cato told WSAV-TV. “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.’”
But lucky for him, it turned out to be a mere placeholder that was auto-generated by an e-citation software, and not the actual fine.
Joshua Peacock, the spokesperson for Savannah's city government, clarified to the Associated Press that a fine cannot surpass $1,000, in addition to state-required expenses.
“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 told the AP.
He added that the court is presently making efforts to modify the placeholder language to prevent any future misunderstandings.
