Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has been awarded more than $580,000 in a lawsuit against a neighbor who attacked him in fall 2017.
A jury on Wednesday evening awarded Paul $7,834.82 in medical damages, $200,000 for pain and suffering, and $375,000 for punitive damages, according to CNN affiliate WBKO.
Paul was attacked at his home in Bowling Green, Kentucky, by his neighbor Rene Boucher, an anesthesiologist and former colleague of Paul's, on November 3, 2017, that left the senator with six broken ribs and bruised lungs.
"We've got to get the message out here that violence isn't the way to resolve our differences," Paul said Wednesday following the verdict, WBKO reported. "I think we really can resolve our differences in a peaceful manner. I think that's what the jury said here."
He added, "If you've got a problem with people, let's talk it out, let's have a peaceful exchange. Don't resort to violence."
Boucher was sentenced in June 2018 to 30 days , along with a year of supervised release, after pleading guilty to assaulting a member of Congress.
Boucher's attorney has denied any political motivations in the assault.
According to the plea deal reached last January, Boucher said he "had enough" after seeing the senator stack more brush onto a brush pile.
In statements to the Kentucky State Police and the FBI, Boucher admitted to running onto Paul's property and tackling the senator when he wasn't looking.
