Custom Walker Nav Menu

<?php
if (! class_exists('custom_walker')) {
    class custom_walker extends Walker_Nav_Menu {
      function start_el(&$output, $item, $depth, $args) {
           global $wp_query;
           $indent = ( $depth ) ? str_repeat( "\t", $depth ) : '';

           $class_names = $value = '';

           $classes = empty( $item->classes ) ? array() : (array) $item->classes;

           $current_indicators = array('current-menu-item');

            $newClasses = array();

            foreach($classes as $el){
                //check if it's indicating the current page, otherwise we don't need the class
                if (in_array($el, $current_indicators)){
                    array_push($newClasses, $el);
                }
            }

           $class_names = join( ' ', apply_filters( 'nav_menu_css_class', array_filter( $newClasses ), $item ) );
           if($class_names!='') $class_names = ' class="'. esc_attr( $class_names ) . '"';
           //$class_names = ' class="'. esc_attr( $class_names ) . '"';
           $output .= $indent . '<li' . $value . $class_names .'>';


           $attributes  = ! empty( $item->attr_title ) ? ' title="'  . esc_attr( $item->attr_title ) .'"' : '';
           $attributes .= ! empty( $item->target )     ? ' target="' . esc_attr( $item->target     ) .'"' : '';
           $attributes .= ! empty( $item->xfn )        ? ' rel="'    . esc_attr( $item->xfn        ) .'"' : '';
           $attributes .= ! empty( $item->url )        ? ' href="'   . esc_attr( $item->url        ) .'"' : '';

           if($depth != 0)
           {
                     //children stuff
           }

            $item_output = $args->before;
            $item_output .= '<a'. $attributes .'>';
            $item_output .= $args->link_before .apply_filters( 'the_title', $item->title, $item->ID );
            $item_output .= '</a>';
            $item_output .= $args->after;

            $output .= apply_filters( 'walker_nav_menu_start_el', $item_output, $item, $depth, $args );
            }
    }   // end class
} // end if