Kentucky senator Rand Paul returned to the Senate today for the first time since being attacked at his home earlier this month by a crazed neighbor.
Kelley and I want to thank everyone once again for your thoughts and prayers for my recovery. While I’m still in a good deal of pain, I will be returning to work in the Senate today, ready to fight for liberty and help move forward with tax cuts in the coming days and weeks.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) November 13, 2017
The man who attacked Paul was Rene Boucher, a 59-year-old fellow doctor. Boucher initially claimed (and the media bought it) that the two had been feuding over shrubbery, and Paul was a horrible neighbor, often showing disregard for the rules of their homeowners association. The injuries were initially reported as been minor, or what you’d expect from a scuffle. Boucher was only held on bail of $5,000.
That wasn’t the case. While it goes without saying that even had Boucher truly been angered over where Paul dumped his lawn clippings, it wouldn’t have justified his attack – the attack was much worse than initially reported, as was the cause of the attack. Paul suffered six cracked ribs, and a fluid buildup around his lungs.
Accounts from the community dispute that Paul was a bad neighbor – and point to a potentially political motivation for the attack. “He was active on social media and said some negative things about the Republican agenda,” one neighbor revealed. “I think it was unfortunate that they lived so close together.” Another neighbor, Jim Bullington, a former member of the city commission, told the Washington Post that Boucher is a devout socialist.
According to the Daily Caller, “Dan Renshaw, who has lived in the neighborhood with his wife for 17 years, said he doesn’t think the misdemeanor fourth-degree assault charges are strong enough due to the extent of Paul’s injuries.” Federal charges are a possibility, given that Paul is a sitting U.S. senator.
We’ll see what happens to him – though the fact that it took Paul a long time to recover isn’t going to sound great in court, for Boucher’s sake.
According to The Hill, “Bouche pleaded not guilty last week to a fourth-degree assault charge. He faces up to a year in jail if convicted. He’s due back in court Nov. 30 for a pretrial hearing.
Boucher’s lawyer said the feud was not related to politics, but was over a ‘trivial matter.'”
What do you think? Should Rand Paul’s attacker go to jail for his crime? Tell us your thoughts below!
