Update (Nov. 3, 2011): The battery charges against Rob Lauer were dismissed this week.

Update (Jan. 22, 2011): Former Nevada secretary of state candidate Rob Lauer has filed a libel and defamation lawsuit against the woman who had accused him of battery. At issue are some of her statements made to the media and included in this story.

Republican Secretary of State candidate Rob Lauer stands accused of battery and has now counter-alleged the same against his female accuser, according to a statement this afternoon from the Public Information Office of the Las Vegas Metro Police Department.

Las Vegas resident Jennifer Von Tobel alleged that Lauer repeatedly grabbed and twisted her wrists over her objections as he attempted to “show off” defensive combat tactics.  Lauer denied the account, saying he was merely fending off Von Tobel’s unwanted advances.

The allegations against Lauer were made in a police report filed Friday night after an incident at Stoney’s Rockin’ Country bar on South Las Vegas Boulevard. Lauer said he filed his own police report on Monday.

Von Tobel, a professional fundraiser for non-profit organizations and political campaigns, said she is acquainted with Lauer from brief conversations at a number of past political events.  She said things were cordial when she spoke with Lauer at a private happy hour event at Stoney’s earlier in the evening.

“We chatted.  I offered to help him out with some fundraising, just normal stuff,” said Von Tobel.

“It was later in the evening, after my two friends had left, that [Lauer] approached me,” she said.

“He asked me to put my hands on his shoulders so he could show me this move,” said Von Tobel. “I refused, but he just grabbed my wrists anyway.”

Von Tobel said Lauer laid hands on her two more times, and that as a result she sustained injuries to both her wrists and right shoulder. Von Tobel said she was treated at a Henderson hospital on Saturday.

Lauer has denied Von Tobel’s account, saying he does not believe she could have sustained injuries from the incident.  Lauer said Von Tobel had been drinking and that he touched her only to remove her hands from his person.

“She was definitely intoxicated; she was slurring her words,” Lauer said.

“She grabbed by left butt cheek,” he said. “I kind of just blew it off, tried to laugh it off.”

Lauer said Von Tobel put her hands on his shoulders, close to his neck, and then in a second instance attempted to put him in a headlock.  He claimed that in each case he grabbed her hands or wrists only in order to remove them.

“The first time, I took her right hand and twisted it off my body and then released her,” he said. “The second time, I grabbed both her wrists and removed them and then released her.”

“I did not strike her,” he said. “I just wanted her hands off my body.”

Lauer said Von Tobel was laughing during the incident and that he does not believe she is really hurt.

“I thought she was just drinking and being silly,” he said.

Von Tobel insisted she was not intoxicated and that Lauer was the aggressor in the situation.

“No, I did not grab him. No, I did not come on to him. No, I was not drunk,” she said. “The only time I tried to touch him was to push him away.”

“Look, I’m going on ten years diagnosed with MS. I don’t do anything physical,” he said. “I suffer from fatigue and extreme weakness from my condition. I have no grip in my hands.”

“This idea that I laid hands on him, put him in a headlock, is just ridiculous,” she said. “He approached me and was showing off, trying to show off some moves, and he got carried away and would not stop.”

Metro said they will not yet release either party’s police report pending completion of their investigation which they expect to take about a week.

The Public Information Office confirmed this afternoon that they are looking at evidence including video surveillance tape from Stoney’s.

Both Lauer and Von Tobel said they believe the video tape will confirm their story and vindicate them.