SAVANNAH, Ga. – Connor Cato was caught with a “lead foot” on a Georgia freeway last month. Though he admits speeding, the amount of the citation — $1.4 million — floored him, according to reports.
Cato was traveling through Savannah while driving home Sept. 2 when the Georgia State Patrol caught him doing 90 in a 55-mile-per-hour zone, he acknowledged when speaking to WSAV-TV.
As a result, he expected a heavy fine, but was stunned to receive a charge of $1.4 million. Naturally, he assumed it was a typo so he called the court.
To his utter amazement, rather than acknowledge a flaw in “the system,” he said a clerk told him to pay the amount or appear in 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 told the news outlet.
The motorist called the court, believing the fine had to be an error, but was told he had to pay the amount or appear in court. (WSAV)
Fortunately for Cato, the staggering figure turned out to be what is called a “placeholder” that he was never expected to pay. However, that is not what he was told, reported WSAV-TV.
The whopping amount that would leave most motorists speechless was generated by e-citation software used by the local Recorder’s Court. The system in this case is automatically applied to “super speeders,” which is defined as anyone caught exceeding the posted limit by 35 mph or more, said Joshua Peacock, a spokesman for Savannah’s city government.
A real fine for this traffic offense cannot exceed $1,000. The actual amount will be set by a judge when Cato makes a mandatory appearance in court, the New York Post reported.
“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.”
The city has been using the new system since 2017, but is “working on adjusting the placeholder language to avoid any confusion.”
It’s unclear why it simply doesn’t say “mandatory appearance” as opposed to a whopping fine that is unrealistic considering the offense.
