It was just before 2 a.m. when loud banging noises outside his Framingham home jolted the police sergeant awake. It sounded like someone was breaking into his house. The 11-year veteran of the Newton police force loaded his gun before he walked outside to investigate.

The source of the ruckus that early December morning would turn out to be five of his fellow Newton police officers who egged his house, but the sergeant’s account illustrates that in those first minutes he suspected a crime, not a joke, and the outcome could have been dangerously different.