Syracuse Common Council President Helen Hudson presided over the first council meeting since last week's arrest of Councilor Amir Gethers. There was no discussion publicly about the councilor facing accusations of choking a woman twice to the point where she says she couldn't breathe. After the meeting Hudson was asked to comment about Gethers' arrest and status on the council. "I'm not his boss first of all. He was elected by the people of Syracuse," said Hudson.

Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh has called the allegations against Gethers serious.

Gethers has not commented. In fact, after the council meeting today he was escorted down the hall by City Clerk Patrick McBride who said, "We have no comment, thank you."

Councilor Pat Hogan talked with reporters after the meeting and said he had a private conversation with Gethers about the allegations. He said he would like the focus to be on constituent work while the legal process plays out, "You just saw how we operated just now, " said Hogan. "It didn't seem to affect us at all now. I mean, you know it's a court case."

Last week the Onondaga County District Attorney commented on the charges against the first term councilor. “My goal is to protect the victim,” said Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick when asked about the arrest. “Mr. Gethers is presumed innocent; however, I hope he recognizes what happened and deals with it to the satisfaction of my office and the victim and gets back to serving the people of Syracuse, and learns an important lesson. We’ll see.”