A Georgia man received a $1.4 million speeding ticket as a 'placeholder'

• A Georgia man was caught speeding after driving 90 mph in a 55 mph zone.

• He received a notification telling him he'd been fined $1.4 million.

• However, the City of Savannah said the huge number was merely a "placeholder."

A Georgia man found himself facing a staggering $1.4 million speeding ticket after he was caught driving at 90 miles per hour in a 55 mph zone, he told local media.

Connor Cato said he knew he was going to receive a fine after speeding on his way home on September 2, but he could never have anticipated such a large one, according to WSAV.

Cato said he reached out to a Savannah court to find out if it was a mistake, WSAV reported.

He told the news outlet: "'$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.'"

However, local authorities have since clarified that the staggering sum was only a "placeholder."

Joshua Peacock, a spokesman for Savannah's city government, told the Associated Press that the $1.4 million figure was an automatically generated "placeholder" created by an e-citation software.

A judge ultimately determines what penalty to impose, the city of Savannah told WSAV in an email.

The software shows 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," a City of Savannah spokesperson told WSAV.

But, according to Peacock, the actual fine cannot exceed $1,000 in addition to state-mandated costs.

The Recorder's Court is now looking to adjust the placeholder language used in e-citations to "avoid future confusion," a spokesperson told WSAV.

The City of Savannah did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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