Senator Rand Paul has been awarded over $580,000 in damages in the suit against the neighbor who assaulted him in Nov. 2017. The altercation, in which Sen. Paul broke six ribs, began as a dispute over a brush-pile on his property and culminated with his neighbor, Rene Boucher, tackling him from behind, Fox News reports:
“Boucher pleaded guilty in March to a federal charge of assaulting a member of Congress and had asked for probation.
He was sentenced in June to 30 days in federal prison for the assault. He was also ordered to one year of supervised release, a $10,000 fine, 100 hours of community service, and ordered to have no contact with Paul’s family.
Paul at the time said he thought Boucher should’ve faced a longer sentence for the attack, which kept Paul off Capitol Hill for nearly two weeks.
Shortly after the attack, Boucher’s attorney claimed the clash had “absolutely nothing to do” with politics, and was a dispute over something “trivial.”
Boucher, a retired anesthesiologist, said the attack was sparked because he was agitated about piles of brush on Paul’s property. Boucher also claimed Paul used his lawnmower — on the same day as the attack — and blew some leaves onto his property, igniting his outrage.”
