The NYPD committed a Virginia man claiming to be a Navy SEAL to a psych ward, and later found out that he was in fact a Navy SEAL. It makes us wonder: how many times does the NYPD get the "I'm in an elite military unit, you can't arrest me," excuse?

According to the Post's sources, 29-year-old Shaun Day, on a two-week leave, was stopped for running a red light at Second Ave. and East 26th street on Thursday. After police found a 9mm semiautomatic handgun and ammunition in his pickup truck, they arrested him for gun possession. Despite his claims that he had "top-secret clearance" and that he was a Navy SEAL, the police source said cops thought Day was "rambling incoherently" and committed him to Bellevue Hospital for observation.

Apparently Day couldn't provide proof of his SEAL status, and because he was so emphatic, he underwent observation for a day. "He was released [Friday] in their care, and they were going to treat him for post-traumatic stress," the source told the paper. All charges against Day have been deferred, and it's unclear how he was able to prove his status.

In case you're wondering if there is any identifying mark a Navy SEAL would offer proof to skeptical NYPD officers, the website CyberSEALS ("run by SEALs, and primarily for SEALs,") explains why there isn't:

Many SEAL impostors offer tattoos as evidence that they are actually members of the US Navy’s SEAL Teams...It is perhaps appropriate to point out that the requirements of Operational Security (OPSEC) and Personal Security (PERSEC) are not well served if members of an elite military force like the SEALs are wearing the identifying emblem of their unit tattooed on their bodies. These are not the freewheeling days of wooden ships, canvas sails, and sailors wearing exotic tattoos from unheard-of ports in the primitive South Sea Islands. This is the 21st Century, and the modern Navy is a completely different entity. The popularity of tattoos is increasing, including the SEAL Trident emblem or variations on that theme, and more SEALs do have tattoos today than 30-40 years ago. Still, those tattoos are never offered as proof of SEAL training or SEAL duty. There is no tattoo which is either currently recognized or accepted as a means of identifying certain SEAL members.

Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last year, and more than 20 SEALs died in a helicopter crash over Afghanistan last August.

