2009 was ushered in with cold and crime. In Northampton, a police officer is recovering from a serious head injury after being hit with a hammer.

It was controlled chaos on the main streets of Northampton, but extreme chaos broke out down the block. While first night celebrations were in full swing Wednesday night, 22 year old Garrett Shaw took a detour to a back alley behind Pleasant Street.

Police say it appears Shaw was hoping his new year would start with a bunch of brand new things.

"It was very loud, you could definitely tell there was a disturbance in the area," says witness Matt Dunn.

Police say, that disturbance started when Shaw went on a string of break-ins. He started at one apartment on Pleasant Street, got met by the owner then moved on to YES Computers. That's where officers found him.

Shaw made death threats against the police and tried his best to back them up, by hitting Officer Dennis Liptak in the head with a piece of wood, then once, in the side of the head, with a claw hammer.

"A lot of chaos," describes witness Alex Kennedy.

Battered and bloody, Officer Liptak didn't give up. The skirmish ended when he took Shaw down in the busy Eastside Grille parking lot.

"We come down here annually for the past few years and something like this is tragic," Shaw says.

Right now, Officer Liptak is resting at home. He has some staples in his head to show from all this. As for shaw, you he's facing many charges including intent to murder.