Saga of Rand Paul and Neighbor Who Tackled Him Continues

The weird story of Rand Paul and the neighbor who attacked him continues: The senator filed a civil suit against neighbor Rene Boucher last week, and on Wednesday Boucher responded by filing a counter-suit against Paul, WBKO reports. Paul's lawsuit claims he was "deprived of his enjoyment of life" and is at increased risk of injury or disease; it seeks compensatory and punitive damages for "physical pain and mental suffering." (He suffered six broken ribs when Boucher tackled him from behind due to an apparent beef over Paul stacking brush in a pile near Boucher's property.) Boucher's counter-suit seeks to have Paul's suit dismissed, but that's not all.

Boucher, who also names Paul's wife and their community's homeowners association in the suit, wants "all compensatory and punitive damages permitted by law." He says the Pauls violated the assocation's by-laws by repeatedly piling "unsightly" debris near Boucher's property, and that at least two members of the association knew about these violations but did nothing to stop them. Boucher, who pleaded guilty to assaulting a member of Congress and was sentenced to 30 days in jail and a $10,000 fine, also filed a motion to dismiss Paul's request for an injunction keeping Boucher away from his family. "Such an order is already in place in federal court, so asking Judge Wilson for the same of similar order doesn't really seem appropriate," says Boucher's attorney. (More Rand Paul stories.)