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Kentucky State Police have arrested a man accused of assaulting Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) at his home in Bowling Green, the senator's office confirmed on Saturday.

DontTreadOnMe wrote:Heavy.com has more info, including the 2 men are apparently neighbors and Paul was supposedly mowing his lawn at the time.
https://heavy.com/news/2017/11/rene-bou ... l-assault/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Boucher’s daughter, Danielle, is Facebook friends with Paul’s son, William.

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul was recovering Sunday from five broken ribs after he was assaulted by a neighbor who tackled him from behind at the senator's Kentucky home, officials said.

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Stafford said Paul had three displaced fractures, which can lead to life-threatening injuries, as well as lung contusions. Paul and his wife, Kelley, "appreciate everyone's thoughts and well wishes and he will be back fighting for liberty in the Senate soon," Stafford said.

The attack was a shock for the community in Bowling Green, where a neighbor says he would often see Paul and Boucher out walking their dogs on the normally quiet streets. Jim Skaggs, a member of the state Republican Party executive committee, lives in the neighborhood and has known both men for years. He said they disagreed politically, but was shocked to hear of the incident.

"They were as far left and right as you can be," Skaggs said. "We had heard of no friction whatsoever other than they just were difference of political opinion. Both of them walked their little dogs at about a mile and a half circle, a nice little dog trot. I'd see them out walking, maybe they might stop and speak with each other."

Boucher is an anesthesiologist and a pain specialist. He invented the "Therm-A-Vest," a cloth vest partially filled with rice that when heated can be worn to relieve back pain, according to a 2005 article from the Bowling Green Daily News

Cruiser wrote:What is a displaced fracture?

Sen. Rand Paulfaces the possibility of an extended absence from the Senate as he recovers from serious injuries that he suffered on Friday after police said he was attacked at his Kentucky home.

In a statement, Mr. Paul’s chief political strategist, Doug Stafford, revealed that the second-term Republican had five rib fractures including three displaced fractures, in which a bone separated into pieces and went out of alignment from its typical position. The senator is also suffering from lung contusions, Mr. Stafford said.

Mr. Stafford said such injuries are “also accompanied by severe pain that can last weeks to months” and could affect Mr. Paul’s ability to return to Washington for Senate duties.

DontTreadOnMe wrote:

Cruiser wrote:What is a displaced fracture?

One where the broken bones are misaligned.

Rand's neighbor of 17 years ambushed the good Senator while mowing his lawn and beat the stuffing out of him, cracking 5 ribs, knocking out 3 teeth, and possibly breaking his jaw. He was charged with a 4th degree assault and released on a laughable $7,500 bail. What?!

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In short, you can now beat the **** out of your local US Senator for a slap on the wrist and $7,500 bail cost. What really happened here? Crime of passion, absurd accident, fight club?

A man has been arrested and charged with assaulting and injuring U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, authorities said Saturday.

Kentucky State Police said in a news release that Paul suffered a minor injury when 59-year-old Rene Boucher assaulted him at his Warren County home on Friday afternoon.

The release did not provide details of the assault or the nature of Paul's injury. In a statement, Paul spokeswoman Kelsey Cooper said the Republican senator is "fine." The statement said Paul was "blindsided" by the assault but she did not provide further details.

Boucher, of Bowling Green, is charged with fourth-degree assault with a minor injury, a misdemeanor. He is being held at Warren County's jail on $5,000 bond. An automated phone system at the jail did not provide access to lawyer information for Boucher.

Kentucky State Police Master Trooper Jeremy Hodges said he could not release details of the assault because of security issues.

Daily Beast reporter Sam Stein apologized on Monday after accidentally tweeting out the home address of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R.) when he posted a copy of the arrest warrant for the man accused of assaulting the senator.

Rob Porter, who says he has known Paul for 20 years, visited the Senator on Saturday just one day after the attack. He said Paul was mowing his yard and had stopped to remove a limb when 59-year-old Rene Boucher, Paul's neighbor for 17 years, tackled him from behind, slamming him to the ground. Porter said Paul was wearing ear protection and did not hear Boucher coming.

For days, mystery has swirled around what led to the assault, from Washington, D.C., to the high-end gated community where both men live. Rumors spread in the community that the attack was stemmed from a festering neighborhood dispute about lawn debris. But Porter said in all the years he has known Paul, he has never heard him mention Boucher or any type of yard issue with his neighbor.

"Rand doesn't really have any interaction with the guy. If there was a dispute, I do believe Rand wasn't aware of it," Porter said. "I have been to their house socially and for a variety of reasons for going on 20 years, I've never heard (Paul) mention (Boucher), good or bad."

“I appreciate all of the support from everyone,” he said in a statement Wednesday. “A medical update: Final report indicates six broken ribs and a new X-ray shows a pleural effusion.”

A pleural effusion is excess fluid that accumulates in the pleural cavity, the fluid-filled space that surrounds the lungs. This excess can impair breathing by limiting the expansion of the lungs.

I’m not a doctor, but those kind of injuries aren’t typically sustained in an ordinary fistfight. They seem more consistent with a fall or some kind of vehicular accident. Short of that, maybe a rifle butt or repeated kicking with steel-tipped boots might break and displace ribs. At a minimum this attack seems like a felonious crime, perhaps even attempted murder.

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Something is not right with this story. I don’t doubt that being forcibly tackled from behind could cause some rib and lung injuries, but it sounds more like he was run over by a golf cart.

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If he was unprovoked, why are the charges so light? And why did Paul’s complaint sound so mild when it appears he was beaten to within an inch of his life? Displaced ribs can easily lead to quick death from a torn aorta, for example.

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The local news determined that Boucher has been retired since 2015 and was once registered as a Democrat in Rhode Island. Apparently his Facebook page has an appropriate level of outrage about President Trump, but nothing related to his neighbor Rand Paul. None of that really helps me understand why Boucher allegedly ran into Rand Paul’s yard and tackled him while the senator was trying to mow his lawn. Nor does it explain how Paul was so badly injured or why he reacted so mildly, calling it only an “unfortunate incident,” instead of a nearly lethal and apparently unprovoked attack that will leave him in severe pain for many months to come.

“As a friend and neighbor of the Paul family, I have been disturbed by the inaccuracies in numerous media accounts of the assault that occurred on Friday, November 3rd,” writes Travis Creed in an email to Breitbart News. “The stories of a ‘landscaping dispute’, or a dispute of any sort between Rand Paul and Rene Boucher are erroneous and unfounded. The reason for Mr. Boucher’s bizarre attack is known only to him. Statements to the contrary are irresponsible and unnecessary.”

This speculation regarding Boucher’s motive, Creed says “has led to an unfair characterization of the Pauls and their home.”

“The Pauls are and always have been great neighbors and friends. They take pride in their property and maintain it accordingly. Rand has enjoyed working on and maintaining his lawn for as long as I have known him. He was attacked on his property for no apparent reason and suffered serious injury. That is the only fact known at this time.”