IN 2012, Philadelphia Police Lt. Jonathan Josey became a national symbol of police brutality after a cellphone video went viral of him hitting a woman in the aftermath of the Puerto Rican Day Parade.

He was charged with simple assault and fired - only to be exonerated the following year. Josey, at the time a decorated, 19-year-veteran of the police force, also got his job back - complete with back pay.

Fast-forward to 2014 and Josey is not only a vindicated man but a wiser one. The incident, which made national headlines, helped him reorder his priorities about what's really important, a message he shares in his new play, "What If Heaven Was Black."

It is scheduled to debut Saturday at 3 p.m. and to be performed again at 7 p.m. at Microsoft's School of the Future at 4021 Parkside Ave. (Tickets are $25 at the door.)

"When what happened to me happened, I never got sad or upset because I knew that God needed to remove something from me," said Josey, who uses the pseudonym "Jonathan Damon" with this production.

"And like I tell people: When God has a plan for you and he gives you something, he needs you to work on what he gives you. Don't make it second to anything," he continued. "I think I was so consumed with my job because it had been my everything for almost 20 years at the time, it was stopping me from doing something that he gave me. So, when he removed that from me, it allowed me time to finish this play. And as soon as I was finished, everything that was taken from me, I got back."

Despite a flurry of negative media attention, Josey said he managed to remain calm for the most part. (Shortly after the incident, I saw Josey at the premiere of a local, independent movie he acted in. Josey was glad handing with well wishers and socializing as if nothing had happened.)

"Even though I was vilified in the press and I had all this stuff going on and the pending trial and all that stuff, there was a peace in everything," explained Josey, who attends Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church. "I knew that God needed to remove that to get me to do what he needed me to do. So, this was my peace."

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Police officer debuts play about spirituality