Nov. 4 (UPI) — U.S. Sen. Rand Paul sustained a minor unspecified injury when he was assaulted at his home in Bowling Green, Ky., police said.
A neighbor, Rene Boucher, 59, is being held on $5,000 bond in the Warren County Detention Center on one count of fourth-degree assault Friday, according to a news release from Kentucky State Police.
WNKY-TV reported that Boucher is the senator’s neighbor and the FBI believes that the attack was politically motivated against the Republican. Boucher, a retired physician, had registered as a Democrat, according to voter registration records from March.
A neighbor told WNKY-TV that Paul was mowing his lawn at the time of the assault.
State troopers arrived at 3:21 p.m. Friday at the senator’s home. Police said Boucher “intentionally assaulted” Paul, causing a “minor injury.”
Kelsey Cooper, Paul’s Kentucky communications director, said in a statement: “Senator Paul was blindsided and the victim of an assault. The assailant was arrested and it is now a matter for the police. Senator Paul is fine.”
Paul, Kentucky’s junior senator since 2011, was present at the congressional baseball practice shooting in June that seriously injured U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana.
Paul, 54, began practicing ophthalmology in 1993 in Bowling Green.
He was a presidential candidate in 2016.
