photo by: Chris Conde/ Journal-World

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center is pictured in September 2018.

A resident of the city-supported homeless campsite who allegedly struck another man with a wooden object — and later claimed he was defending other residents of the camp — has had the battery charge against him dismissed for now.

Vance Swallow, 39, had been charged with one felony count of aggravated battery in connection with an incident on July 30, 2023, at the Camp New Beginnings site.

As the Journal-World reported, police found a man, 41-year-old Tristen Hollins, walking south from the camp with a significant amount of blood on him and a 2-inch gash on his head. Police said at the time that Hollins had previously been banned from the camp and that a camper asked him to leave and then reportedly hit Hollins on the head with a wooden object.

Swallow was arrested on suspicion of the attack, and at his first appearance in Douglas County District Court he said, “I thought I was protecting the homeless community from someone who was hurting them.”

Hollins was charged two weeks later with one felony count of attempted murder for allegedly stabbing Bryan “Queen” Griffin, a resident of a neighboring campsite, in the neck. The alleged attack happened while Griffin was walking through a pedestrian tunnel under the railroad tracks in the 500 block of North Second Street.

Swallow was scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on Friday, but instead the state moved to dismiss the charge because Hollins was unavailable to testify. The charge was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled.

The reason Hollins was unavailable to testify is that he has been declared unfit for trial in his own attempted murder case. In September, he was ordered to treatment at Larned State Hospital, a facility he has been committed to multiple times. A psychological evaluation from Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center had found that Hollins had signs of mental illness that would make it difficult for his attorney, Michael Clarke, to work with him to effectively prepare for trial.

Hollins is currently waiting for a bed to become available at Larned. He is being held at the Douglas County Jail on a $1 million cash or surety bond.