Baltimore County Council member Todd Crandell endangered police inside his Eastpoint Mall office in June 2024, in an incident that came to light after his wife took out a protective order against him in May, according to court and police records.
Crandell, who appeared “extremely intoxicated,” was restrained and transported to Franklin Square Medical Center in Rossville after opening his desk drawer to reveal a fully loaded handgun, the police report said.
“I will shove my Glock up your ass!” the councilman later told one of the officers who refused to uncuff Crandell at the hospital.
His wife, Lisa Crandell, cited the incident as one of several reasons she doesn’t feel safe around him. She also testified while seeking the protective order that he threatened her using “severe verbal abuse” while drunk, according to court records.
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Crandell, 55, is a Republican representing District 7, the southeastern portion of the county, including his native Dundalk. The former high school wrestling coach has been on the council for more than a decade.
Last year, Crandell’s mother called Baltimore County Police because she had not heard from or seen the councilman in more than a day and was worried, according to police records.
Responding officers with the county’s Mobile Crisis Team said Crandell, barefoot and disheveled with a half a bottle of vodka in hand, refused help from police.
According to the report, after officers informed Crandell they would take him to the hospital for the night, “he became further escalated and shouted ‘Can I just f***ing ... (Pause) ... here ... here,’ while reaching for the top left desk drawer and pulled it open.”
One of the officers spotted a black handgun in Crandell’s desk and immediately slammed the drawer shut because she was “concerned for [Crandell’s] safety and everyone in the room.”
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Crandell refused to leave his office, and officers eventually handcuffed him. He continued to be belligerent when medics arrived to transport him to the hospital, the police report said.
The councilman was not charged with a crime.
A police spokesperson did not address a question about why the department did not notify the public or Crandell’s colleagues about the incident.
Crandell’s struggles with alcoholism are well known, but what has not been public — either to his constituents or several of his colleagues on the council — is the extent of his combative interactions with local law enforcement and his family while under the influence of alcohol.
“I regret my actions and my behavior. It was entirely alcohol-related,” the council member told The Banner after a county work session meeting late Tuesday night.
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Crandell said the police were responding to a wellness check after family and friends couldn’t find him.
“They were told I had a gun and I was thinking about using it,” he said.
Asked whether he wanted to use it on himself, he responded: “Yes.”
Lisa Crandell told a judge during her court hearing in May that the couple’s firearms were taken away after that incident with Baltimore County Police last year.
A danger to his wife
In May, Lisa Crandell petitioned the Baltimore County District Court in Essex for a protective order against her husband, telling District Judge Lisa Phelps that he frequently becomes blackout drunk and is a threat to her and her daughter from a previous marriage.
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Lisa Crandell also called Baltimore County Police to report she did not feel safe around her husband, records show.
She told police one evening in May that “things escalated due to [Todd Crandell] drinking alcoholic beverages and attempting to cook, which cause the kitchen to start smoking.”
During the initial court hearing, Crandell said her husband becomes increasingly aggressive when drunk and verbally abuses her, screaming, yelling and calling her names.
“Yesterday he just went into a rage because my mother and I ... we just refused to engage with him,” she testified. “That just made him more angry, more angry. Then he goes out on the road and he could harm himself or someone else.”
The council member told The Banner that he never drove his county-owned car while drunk and has not had any DUI charges.
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The court granted Lisa Crandell a protective order a week after she testified in a preliminary hearing, which ordered her husband not to abuse, harass or contact his wife for at least a year. It also requires him to vacate their shared home in Dundalk and hand over any firearms he may have access to.
Lisa Crandell did not respond to a request for comment.
In court documents, Todd Crandell did not dispute the facts or contest the request for the protective order. When asked Tuesday night, he did not elaborate on the incident at his home.
‘No secret’
Crandell has been open about his struggles with alcoholism.
He has been publicly frank about it as recently as late April, when he advocated for a bill during a county work session that would grant the county Police Department a therapy dog.
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“I think it’s no secret to my colleagues on the council and maybe to some of those people either online or in the audience that I have personally sought treatment for alcoholism,” he said.
Council member Izzy Patoka commended Crandell’s bravery in addressing his addiction at the session.
“I just want to acknowledge your courage for sharing a personal issue that probably is not easy to share,” Patoka said. “I think it takes courage to do that in a public setting.”
About a week after the work session — on the night Crandell left the stove on while drunk — he terrified his wife so much that she called police and filed for a protective order the next day.
“My fear yesterday, when there was a baseball bat right next to him, I was afraid that was gonna get picked up,” Lisa Crandell said, according to an audio recording from the court hearing.
She and her mother tried to lock Crandell out of the house to avoid engaging with him.
The next morning, Crandell was found unconscious in the driveway outside his mother’s house and was later hospitalized, his wife told the judge.
In response to questions Tuesday from The Banner, Crandell said his alcoholism has “given me new appreciation for those who are struggling.”
‘I don’t feel safe’
Crandell has taken several weekslong leaves of absence from the Baltimore County Council over the past year to receive in-patient treatment for his alcohol addiction.
Several of Crandell’s colleagues told The Banner they did not know specifics about the Eastpoint Mall incident or his marital troubles.
The council members who were aware did not want to speak on the record; only one acknowledged briefly addressing it with Crandell directly.
Crandell said that he doesn’t believe his alcoholism has prevented him from serving his district.
“I think my voting record speaks for itself,” he said. “Caring for people hasn’t changed.”
The councilman said he hasn’t made a decision about whether he will run for reelection in 2026.
During the initial court hearing in May, Lisa Crandell testified that her husband has been in and out of rehabilitation four times.
“I feel like he’s on the verge of snapping,” she said. “I don’t want him coming home ... with my 20-year-old home from college.
“I don’t feel safe.”
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