The lawsuit involving Senator Rand Paul and an angry neighbor recently ended when a jury awarded the senator more than $580,000 in damages and medical expenses. The suit settled a dispute between the two that arose when Paul's neighbor, Rene Boucher, “tackled him and broke several of his ribs in an argument over lawn maintenance.” At the time of the incident, Paul was “doing yard work at his Kentucky home.” Of the $580,000, $375,000 was awarded in punitive damages while $200,000 was awarded for pain and suffering and $7,834 was for medical expenses.During a recent three-day trial, Paul testified that he “feared for his life as he struggled to breathe after Rene Boucher, an anesthesiologist by trade, slammed into him in their upscale Bowling Green neighborhood in late 2017.” After the verdict announcement, Paul seemed pleased and said he hoped the jury's decision would “send a clear message that violence is not the answer, anytime, anywhere.”

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On the other side of the aisle, Boucher's attorney, Matt Baker, said he plans to appeal. He said, “we all expected that Sen. Paul would get a verdict in his favor. This far exceeds anything that we were expecting.”What happened, though? For those who don't know, in late 2017 Paul was working on his lawn at his home. During the trial, he testified that when he “got off his riding mower to pick up a stick,” he was “hit him from behind with such force that both flew through the air 5 or 10 feet.” He also added that he was “wearing noise-canceling headphones and didn’t hear Boucher coming toward him.”While testifying, Paul also added that the incident caused him to have a “flashback to the 2017 shooting at a baseball field when members of Congress were practicing for a game.” During that incident, Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise sustained serious injuries.However, unlike the incident at the baseball field, the attack on Paul was “motivated by lawn care, not politics.” In fact, during the trial, Boucher said he attacked Paul after watching him form a “brush pile near their property line.” The day before the incident, Boucher said “he had burned another brush pile that Paul had created near the boundary...and had hauled away previous brush piles accumulated by Paul without asking the senator.”Prior to the incident, Boucher also testified that he attempted to talk to the senator about his “lawn maintenance concerns, but was rebuffed.” Paul pushed back and said he always “kept any brush pile on his own property.” He also added that while it's okay for people to hold different views on politics, religion, and other matters, it's “never okay to turn those disagreements into violent, aggressive behavior.”Before the recent trial, Boucher already served a 30-day prison sentence “after pleading guilty to assaulting a member of Congress.” In addition, he also paid a "$10,000 fine and served 100 hours of community service in the criminal case.”

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Rand Paul awarded more than $580K after neighbor’s attackKentucky Sen. Rand Paul awarded more than $580K after neighbor's attack