17 October 2023 , 10:26
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A man was slapped with a staggering $1.4million speeding ticket after going 90mph in a 55mph zone.
Connor Cato, from Georgia, was caught speeding on September 2 by cops and had expected to receive a $1,000 maximum "super speeder' ticket", which is handed to anyone driving 35 miles over the speed limit. However, when received a $1.4million speeding ticket, he automatically assumed it was a typo and called the court to double-check.
He alleges he was told to pay the ticket or appear before a judge. '"$1.4 million," the lady told me on the phone," Connor told WSAV. "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 December 21 at 1.30pm."
It was just moments later Connor found out the staggering fine was just a placeholder and had been generated by e-citation software used by the local Recorder’s Court that is automatically applied to "super speeders," according to Joshua Peacock, a spokesman for Savannah’s city government.
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Connor was slapped with a huge $1.4million speeding ticket (WSAV)A judge will decide the fine at Connor's court appearance, which is mandatory for "super speeders". Mr Peacock said the jaw-dropping amount was not supposed to "scare anybody into court." In a statement, he said: "The city did not implement the placeholder amount in order to force or scare people into court. 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."
Mr Peacock said the city had been using the system since 2017, but is "working on adjusting the placeholder language to avoid any confusion." Criminal defence lawyer, Sneh Patel, who handles traffic violations, slammed the tactics used by the state, he said: 'At first when I was asked about this, I thought it was a clerical error."
Lawyer Sneh Patel was appalled by the fine (WSAV)He added in the state of Georgia, the fine for misdemeanour traffic violations cannot exceed $1,000 plus state-mandated costs. 'It’s a misdemeanour of high and aggravated nature, it will be $5,000,' Patel said. "Now, the bond amount should be relevant to that, so for misdemeanour, you wouldn’t see bond amounts over $5,000, maybe $10,000."
The lawyer added higher bond amounts are reserved for more violent crimes such as drug trafficking, murder and people who are expected to skip their upcoming court date.
The speeding ticket comes after the Supreme Court left in place a lower court ruling that invalidated a speeding ticket against a Native American man in Tulsa, Oklahoma - because the city is located within the boundaries of an Indian reservation.
The justices rejected an emergency appeal by Tulsa to block the ruling while the legal case continues. The order is the latest consequence of the high court’s landmark 2020 decision that found that much of eastern Oklahoma, including Tulsa, remains an Indian reservation.
Justin Hooper, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation, was cited for speeding in 2018 by Tulsa police in a part of the city within the historic boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. He paid a $150 fine for the ticket but filed a lawsuit after the Supreme Court’s ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma. He argued that the city did not have jurisdiction because his offence was committed by a Native American in Indian Country. A municipal court and a federal district court judge both sided with the city, but a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the lower court’s decision.