Georgia man gets $1.4 million speeding ticket for going 35 mph over the limit, and it wasn't a mistake

A Georgia man was handed a speeding ticket for a whopping $1.4 million for going 90 mph in a 55 mph zone. Connor Cato of Chatham County was shocked to see the amount so he double-checked with the officials. However, he was told that it wasn't a mistake and he needed to appear in court in the next couple of months. 

A $1.4 million fine!

In the incident from last year, Cato told WSAV-TV in Savannah that he received the citation in September after getting pulled over by the Georgia State Patrol for speeding. He said he knew he was going to get a super speeding ticket, but could never imagine that it would be over a million dollars. 

Cato called the court hoping that it would be a typo or an error. However, a woman on the phone told him that it wasn't a mistake and he would need to appear in court two months later in December. 

Cato then contacted criminal defense attorney Sneh Patel, who told the news outlet that he had never seen anything like this before.

Patel claimed that in the state of Georgia, the maximum fine for traffic violations and misdemeanors was $1,000. In cases of aggravated misdemeanor, the fine could be $5,000 and the bond could go up to $10,000, but never $1.4 million. 

The explanation

In response to WSAV's request, the City of Savannah explained that the fine was an e-citation, generated by the system automatically. It wasn't an actual fine but just a "place holder" for the offender as cases of super speeding require a mandatory court appearance.

The officials explained that the system automatically places $999,999.99 as the base amount plus other costs and the only way to resolve the hefty ticket is to appear in court. The response added that the practice had been in place since 2017.

The city clarified that the placeholder wasn't meant to scare people into court, and the programmers used the largest possible number only to aid the requirement. 

Thus, the $1.4 million ticket wasn't an actual fine but just a way to make sure that Cato appeared in court where the judge would determine the actual amount. 

Joshua Peacock, a spokesman for Savannah’s city government clarified to the Associated Press that the actual fine could not exceed $1,000 in addition to the state-mandated costs. 

He added that after Cato's case, the court was working on adjusting the "placeholder language" of the system to avoid confusion in the future.  

While Cato's case was eventually resolved, earlier this year, residents of Wales became victims of a scam after being framed for false speeding tickets. In what is dubbed as the "Nip Farm Scam", fraudsters in England and Wales, sold innocent people's details to drivers who pin their traffic violations on others to avoid punishment.

In the scam, victims often end up facing penalties without their knowledge and land in court. While officials have arrested drivers who tried to pin their violations on others, the providers of drivers' information, remain at large, as per Wales Online.