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(Newser) 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.

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Saga of Rand Paul and Neighbor Who Tackled Him Continues

Sen. Rand Paul is suing his neighbor who admitted to tackling Rand as he mowed his yard. The Bowling Green Daily Newsreportsthe Friday complaint seeks compensatory and punitive damages from neighbor Rene Boucher for "physical pain and mental suffering" from the November assault.

Boucher says his actions were brought on by Paul repeatedly stacking yard debris near a shared property line. Paul suffered multiple fractured ribs. The lawsuit calls Boucher's actions "unnecessarily cruel, malicious, willful, wanton" with total disregard for Paul's "rights, life and liberties."

The lawsuit charges that Paul "has been deprived of his enjoyment of life" and left with an increased likelihood of injury and disease. It also asks to prevent Boucher from contacting the Paul family or Boucher "will continue ... the pattern of stalking and harassment."

Boucher pleaded guilty to assaulting a member of congress and was sentenced this month to 30 days in jail and a $10,000 fine.

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Sen. Rand Paul files civil suit against neighbor who ...

Wednesday on Fox Business Networks Mornings With Maria, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said people crossing the desert with children to get into the United States was essentially child abuse.

Paul said, I think we ought to look at a way to try to not separate the families, but we should also understand our first priority should be to keep everybody safe. I think, children in an area where people are being detained for illegally coming across the border there is always the possibility some people detained could either be smugglers of drugs, sexual traffickers so really in all systems incarceration throughout the United States we dont put children with adults. I understand the emotions of this I think we should look for a solution. But I dont think everybody should say oh were doing this or people doing this on purpose they want to separate kids. I think people truly are concerned about the safety of the children. And how you have children mixed with adults, some adults are not their parents, and some of the adults frankly arent good people.

He continued, I think the other thing is this fits into overall immigration question we have to ask. Do we want to tell everybody in Central America, load up a kid or two, cross the desert, which is really essentially child abuse people die in the desert and try to come into the country. Its not what we want. It is not what we can handle, and it is not the appropriate way. There are immigration stations, and centers where you can go knock on the door say I am applying for asylum. Frankly, we cant have all of Central America come to the stations either. So it is a complicated bigger question than people make it out to be.

He added, Some of the answers peoplehave talked about instead ofpeople going crazy withattacks calling the presidentnames maybe we should thinkabout some solutions and worktogether on the solution. Thiswould require Democrats nothurling insults and swearing ata president.

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN

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Rand Paul: People Crossing the Desert With Kids Is ...

A neighbor of Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky was sentenced Friday to 30 days in prison after pleading guilty to felony assault for tackling the lawmaker last year, a spokesman for federal prosecutors said. The attack was fueled by irritation over a pile of debris.

The neighbor, Rene A. Boucher, 60, of Bowling Green, Ky., was also sentenced to one year of probation and a $10,000 fine, said Tim Horty, a spokesman for the United States attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, in a phone interview.

In a statement, Mr. Paul said that he believed a conviction with prison time was appropriate, and he hoped it would deter Mr. Boucher from any future violence.

No one deserves to be violently assaulted, Mr. Paul said. I commend the F.B.I. and Department of Justice for treating this violent, premeditated assault with the seriousness it deserves.

He is very relieved to have this last phase of the court proceedings over with, said Matthew J. Baker, a lawyer for Mr. Boucher. Hes very much looking forward to getting this over with once and for all.

Mr. Baker said the defense had no plans to appeal the sentence.

The attack in November left Mr. Paul with several broken ribs and precipitated a case of pneumonia. It kept him out of Washington for nearly two weeks while lawmakers debated the Republican tax bill, his spokesman said.

Mr. Boucher, a retired anesthesiologist, pleaded guilty to a felony count of assaulting a member of Congress resulting in a personal injury, a charge that carries a maximum term of 10 years in prison. Prosecutors had been seeking 21 months of jail time for Mr. Boucher.

Assaulting a member of Congress is an offense we take very seriously, Josh J. Minkler, the United States attorney who handled the case, said in a news release. Those who choose to violate the law will be aggressively prosecuted in federal court.

On Nov. 3, the day of the altercation, Mr. Paul was mowing his lawn in Bowling Green while wearing headphones when Mr. Boucher ran over and tackled the lawmaker, according to a news release from federal prosecutors. The neighbor said he had had enough after watching Mr. Paul stack a pile of brush near the property line between their two yards, the release said.

Mr. Baker said in an interview earlier this week that Mr. Pauls tendency to pile brush near his neighbors property had been a consistent irritant to his client. The day before the attack, Mr. Baker said, Mr. Boucher had decided to burn a pile of brush placed near his land suffering second-degree burns in the process. The Bowling Green Daily News first reported these details regarding the lead-up to the attack.

This issue had been festering for several months, Mr. Baker said in an interview. Unfortunately it ended the way it did.

Mr. Baker said his client, a registered Democrat, had no political motives for attacking Mr. Paul, a Republican. The defense had pushed for a sentence without jail time, citing a lack of prior criminal charges. Mr. Baker said that Mr. Boucher was deeply remorseful over the incident.

Mr. Pauls aides have disputed the defenses characterization that the lawmaker and his neighbor had a longstanding conflict over their yards, calling the attack a premeditated assault.

Any description of this attack that implies a yard dispute justifies such violence and misses the point, Sergio Gor, a spokesman for Mr. Paul, said in a statement earlier this week. He said Mr. Paul had no contact with his neighbor in the decade before the assault.

Mr. Bouchers case was transferred to a United States attorneys office in the Southern District of Indiana after federal prosecutors originally assigned to prosecute the case in Kentucky were recused.

A misdemeanor assault charge filed against Mr. Boucher in a state court in Kentucky was dismissed after he pleaded guilty to the federal charge, said Mr. Horty, the Indiana district spokesman.

Thomas Kaplan contributed reporting.

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Rand Pauls Neighbor Is Sentenced to 30 Days in Prison ...

Rene Boucher, 59, (left) was sentenced Friday to 30 days in federal prison for attacking Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. (Associated Press)

The neighbor convicted of violently attacking Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul outside the senator's Kentucky home last year was sentenced Friday to 30 days in federal prison.

Rene Boucher, 59, was also ordered Friday to one year of supervised release, a $10,000 fine and 100 hours of community service, according to WBKO. He was also ordered to have no contact with the Paul family.

"No one deserves to be violently assaulted, Paul said in a statement Friday. A felony conviction with jail time is appropriate and hopefully will deter the attacker from further violence. I commend the FBI and Department of Justice for treating this violent, pre-meditated assault with the seriousness it deserves."

Paul also said he thinks Boucher should face a longer sentence: "Theoriginal 21 month sentence requested would have been the appropriate punishment."

The attack left the Republican lawmaker with six broken ribs.His recovery was complicated by fluid and blood around the lungs and recurrent pneumonia.

Boucher pleaded guilty in March to a federal charge of assaulting a member of Congress. Boucher had asked for probation.

The senator told police that the incident occurred when his neighbor came onto his property and tackled him from behind, forcing him to the ground and causing pain.

Boucher claimed he tackled Paul over agitation about piles of brush on Pauls property. Boucher also claims Paul used his lawnmower on the same day as the attack and blew some leaves onto his property, sparking his outrage.

But the senator's office pushed back against the notion the neighbors had an ongoing dispute.

There was no longstanding dispute. This description is untrue, a spokesman for Paul said. It is impossible to have a dispute when no words of disagreement were ever spoken -- neither immediately nor at any other time before the attack occurred.

Fox News Mike Emanuel, Lukas Mikelionis, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Alex Pappas is a politics reporter at FoxNews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlexPappas.

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Neighbor who attacked Rand Paul sentenced to 30 days in ...