Colorado CEO who grabbed teen’s neck, tossed him to ground for splashing water on his wife avoids jail

A former Colorado businessman who grabbed the neck of a 15-year-old boy and tossed him to the ground when the teen slashed water on his wife inside an In-N-Out avoided jail time because of a sweetheart plea deal.

Lucas Kalisher, 57, was handed 30 months of probation Monday for his rage-filled attack captured in a viral video at the Loveland, Colo., fast food joint on Aug. 4, 2024.

Kalisher, the ex-CEO of Boulder-based private equity firm Summit Source Funding, was initially arrested and charged with felony assault in the second degree with strangulation and misdemeanor child abuse before making the plea deal with Colorado’s 8th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, KDVR reported.

As part of the plea deal, Kalisher has to complete an anger management evaluation and subsequent treatment, write an apology letter to the teen, 120 hours of community service and pay all restitution to the victim, the outlet reported.

If Kalisher fails to meet the probation terms, he faces a class 5 felony that carries one to three years in prison, two years of parole, and a $100,000 fine.

The teen was reportedly “engaging in horseplay by splashing water” with his two friends before he “accidentally splashed” Kalisher’s wife.

“The juvenile male approached her table to apologize when an adult male accompanying the woman suddenly grabbed him, placed both hands around the front and back of his neck, pulled him down to the table and threw him backward onto the floor,” Loveland police said.

The video, posted to Facebook, captured Kalisher, then 55, ordering the startled boy to apologize before placing the teen in a chokehold and then hurling him onto the tile floor.

“You don’t treat a lady that way,” Kalisher said.

A father of one of the teens shared the video, asking for help identifying Kalisher after his son’s friend was “assaulted by a full-grown man.”

Customers inside the restaurant called out Kalisher for “picking on a kid like that.”

Kalisher and his wife fled the restaurant before cops arrived but he was later turned himself in to the police later that night after a no-bond arrest warrant was issued for him.

In April 2025, Kalisher had pleaded not guilty on the charges, according to the Loveland Reporter-Herald. He was released on $75,000 bond.