BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) — Rand Paul's attacker acknowledged Tuesday that he wasn't thinking rationally when he tackled Paul while the Republican senator was doing yard work at his Kentucky home.
An apologetic Rene Boucher told a jury that he attacked Paul after watching the senator start forming a brush pile near their property line in an upscale Bowling Green subdivision.
"It was an irrational thing I did, and it's two minutes of my life I wish I could take back," Boucher said. "What I did was wrong."
The day before the 2017 attack, which left Paul with several broken ribs, Boucher said he had burned another brush pile that Paul had created near the property line. Boucher said he doused that pile with gasoline and set it on fire. An explosion burned his face, neck and arms, and Boucher said he was still in severe pain the next day when he attacked Paul.
Recounting the attack, Boucher testified that he ran at Paul at about three-quarters speed.
"My left shoulder hit his ribs and broke his ribs, and for that I am very sorry," Boucher said.
Earlier Tuesday, radiologist Sean Willgruber, who helped Paul on and off an examination table after the attack, testified that Paul was walking with a "grandmother shuffle."
Paul needed three or four times longer to get on the table than patients routinely do, Willgruber said. He testified that "it wouldn't be unheard of" for people who had suffered broken ribs to deal with continued pain.
In his lawsuit against Boucher, Paul is seeking up to $500,000 in compensatory damages and up to $1 million in punitive damages.
Boucher's lawyer, Matt Baker, has conceded that a "reasonable award" might be in order for Paul's pain and suffering but has said no punitive damages should be awarded.
Boucher pleaded guilty to assaulting a member of Congress and was sentenced to 30 days behind bars. He served most of his time at a federal prison in Illinois. He also was fined $10,000 and served 100 hours of community service. Federal prosecutors have appealed the sentence, saying 21 months of prison time would have been appropriate.
While questioning Boucher, Paul's lawyer, Tom Kerrick, wondered whether Boucher had an obsession about his yard. Kerrick also noted that Boucher never filed a complaint with the neighborhood homeowners association about Paul's yard maintenance. Boucher said Tuesday that he talked to the HOA president but conceded he didn't "put anything in writing."
