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Photo by Warren County Regional Jail via AP

“Rand never saw him coming or heard him coming,” said the friend, Robert Porter, who visited Paul on Saturday.

The damage was severe. Aides to Paul said Sunday that the senator had suffered five broken ribs and bruises to his lungs. When a Kentucky State Police trooper showed up at Paul’s home Friday afternoon, the senator had small cuts around his nose and mouth, and had trouble breathing because of the injuries to his ribs.

Police have charged Boucher, 59, with a misdemeanor count of assault. Officials on Monday were considering raising the charge to a felony, given the severity of Paul’s injuries.

Paul, 54, has long stood out in the well-to-do gated neighborhood south of Bowling Green, Kentucky, that he calls home. The senator grows pumpkins on his property, composts and has shown little interest for neighborhood regulations.

But the spectacle of the incident — one former doctor attacking another in broad daylight — was altogether different. Competing explanations of the origins of the drama cited stray yard clippings, newly planted saplings and unraked leaves.

“We don’t have squabbles out here,” said Jackie Douglas, a neighbor of the two men. “If you can afford to live out here, you tend to your own business.”

The two men were anything but strangers. Paul and Boucher have lived next to each other for 17 years, and at one point even worked at the same hospital. Boucher practiced for many years as an anesthesiologist and invented a rice-filled vest used for back pain. He now lives alone, neighbors said.