Ticketed on my way to father's deathbed after emergency phone call that he had just had a stroke. Can I Appeal?

On February 19th I received the worst phone call ever, my 55 year old father had a mive stroke at work and was being rushed to the hospital, He died the next day. I left work immediately and was so nervous, my whole body was shaking. En route to the hospital, which I hardly remember, I was so nervous. my sister called me crying trying to find out where he was going to be. All of a sudden I heard a siren behind me, and look in my rearview mirror and see that the police were pulling me over. I pull off to the side of the road , he tells me that he saw me on my cell phone and I try to explain to him that my father is dying. He still gave me a $75 ticket for improper cell phone usage. The next few weeks were a blur to me, but I remebered to plead not guilty to the summons. Today was my hearing, which the officer attended, When the judge called me to bench he asked the officer his side of the story and then asked me mine, I explained the emergency and told him that it was an emergency phone call that I needed to pick up and I was not in the right frame of mind, 5 minutes after findingout that my dad was dying. The judge turned to me and said" If you weren;t driving father while he was hving the stroke, it was not an emergency phone call" You are guilty and hereby fined $180. I was so angry, I stormed out and paid the cashier. Can I appeal this