CINCINNATI, Ohio —  Cincinnati city leaders sat down for their regular public safety committee meeting, but this wasn’t like other meetings.

“The knee is on my neck! I don’t want it on my neck for my children, my boys, my daughter, it’s over!” said Vice Mayor and Committee Chair Christopher Smitherman.

The room was bursting with feeling and emotion.

“We as council people cannot just sit here like potted plants and do nothing and say nothing,” said Jan-Michele Lemon Kearney, city council and committee member.

This, after a week of protests and civil unrest in the city streets.

“We saw significant violence demonstrated towards our officers, we had a number of officers who were assaulted and an officer that was shot,” said Cincinnati Police Chief Eliot Issac.

The police chief says it all ended with more than 500 arrests, but not everyone in handcuffs was arrested for causing violence.

Some peaceful protesters were arrested for being out past curfew hours.

Chris Smitherman, the committee chair, says he was one of them.

“This is me, I was arrested,” said Smitherman.

He says it happened to him years earlier during a rally in the picture he held up, but he says he was unfairly prosecuted and the charges stuck with him for years.

“I’m not going to allow you all to treat these people this way,” said Smitherman.

It’s the reason he’s backing a motion to drop charges for anyone who was peacefully protesting.

And he’s not alone.

“Let’s take a chance on our young people, they’re trying to be peaceful, they’re advocating peace. The people looting and destroying— that’s a whole other thing,” said Lemon Kearney.

But the police chief disagreed, saying peaceful or not, curfew violations should not be dropped.

“I think to just unilaterally dismiss that, it does a couple of things. I think, one, it hinders our ability in the future should we have another curfew,” said Issac.

Another committee member had the same concerns.

“This will set precedent where we can’t have any curfews in the future because everyone will just assume city council will dismiss the charges. We can’t do that,” said Betsy Sunderman, city council and committee member.

But after almost two hours debating the issue, it came down to a committee vote on whether charges should be dropped, but only under certain circumstances, including a waiver not to sue the city.

The majority agreed to send the motion to city council, who will have the final say on it, after one heated meeting.

Council members are expected to discuss the matter in a meeting next Wednesday.

The public will also get a chance to comment that day too.