A US senator has been awarded more than 580,000 dollars (£442,000) in damages and medical expenses after he sued a neighbour who tackled him and broke several of his ribs in a dispute over lawn maintenance.

Republican politician Rand Paul was attacked while gardening at his home in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

He gave evidence during a three-day trial that he feared for his life as he struggled to breathe after Rene Boucher, an anaesthesiologist, slammed into him in their upmarket neighbourhood in late 2017.

Rene Boucher
Rene Boucher (Bac Totrong/Daily News/AP)

The jury awarded 375,000 dollars (£286,000) in punitive damages and 200,000 dollars (£152,000) for pain and suffering, plus nearly 8,000 dollars (£6,100) for medical expenses.

After the jury gave its verdict Mr Paul said in a statement he hoped it would send a “clear message that violence is not the answer — anytime, anywhere”.

Mr Paul and Boucher recounted in detail their versions of the attack for the jury.

The senator said he got off his ride-on mower to pick up a stick and was straightening up when Boucher hit him from behind with such force that both flew 5ft-10ft through the air.

He said he was wearing noise-cancelling headphones and did not hear Boucher coming towards him.

Boucher told the jury he attacked Mr Paul after watching the senator begin forming a pile of garden waste near their property line.

The day before the attack, Boucher said, he had burned another pile that Mr Paul had created near the boundary.

Boucher has already served a 30-day prison sentence after pleading guilty to assaulting a member of Congress.

His lawyer, Matt Baker, said they would appeal against the jury’s damages decision.

“We all expected that Senator Paul would get a verdict in his favour,” Mr Baker said. “This far exceeds anything that we were expecting.”