A Georgia man caught speeding down a freeway last month was slapped with a $1.4million ticket – and he says he was told he either had to pay it or come to court.

Connor Cato was driving through Savannah on September 2 when the Georgia State Patrol caught him going 90 miles per hour in a 55-mile-per-hour zone.

Cato expected to receive a ‘super speeder’ ticket, which is handed to anyone driving 35 miles over the speed limit – but nothing exceeding the $1,000 maximum fine.

Assuming it was a typo, he called the court, and alleges he was told he either had to pay or appear before a judge.

‘”$1.4 million,” the lady told me on the phone,’ Cato 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.”‘

Georgia man Connor Cato was slapped with what appeared to be a $1.48million speeding ticket for going 90mph in a 55mph zone

Criminal defense attorney Sneh Patel, who handles DUI-related charges and traffic violations, says he has never seen an amount that high for a misdemeanor

The City of Savannah issued a statement in which it claimed that the eye-watering amount was simply a placeholder – since the only way to resolve the ticket is to appear before a judge

It was only later that the Georgia man learned the jaw-dropping $1.4million fine was just a placeholder.

The fee was generated by e-citation software used by the local Recorder’s Court that is automatically applied to ‘super speeders,’ said Joshua Peacock, a spokesman for Savannah’s city government.

A judge will set the real fine at Cato’s court appearance, which is mandatory for ‘super speeders.’

Peacock clarified that the amount was not meant to ‘scare anybody into court.’

In a statement, he said: ‘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 system since 2017, but is ‘working on adjusting the placeholder language to avoid any confusion.’

Criminal defense attorney Sneh Patel was appalled by the fine.

‘At first when I was asked about this, I thought it was a clerical error,’ he said.

Patel says misdemeanors of ‘high and aggravated nature’ will total around $5,000, with bond amounts upwards of $10,000 reserved for violent crimes and people suspected of skipping upcoming court dates

A spokesperson for the city claims that the million-dollar fine was not intended as a scare tactic ‘to force people into court’

The lawyer – who handles DUI-related charges and traffic violations – said he had never seen such a high fine for a misdemeanor. 

In the state of Georgia, the fine for misdemeanor traffic violations cannot exceed $1,000 plus state-mandated costs.

‘It’s a misdemeanor of high and aggravated nature, it will be $5,000,’ Patel said.

‘Now, the bond amount should be relevant to that, so for misdemeanor, you wouldn’t see bond amounts over $5,000, maybe $10,000.’

Higher bond amounts, the attorney said, are reserved for more violent crimes – cases like drug trafficking, murder or aggravated assault – or for people who are expected to skip their upcoming court date.