Video footage released to MassLive shows officers, who were assisted by civilians, pulling a 22-year-old man from a burning car in Worcester.

The Worcester Police Department has released video footage and a timeline of events — both included below — that clarify how a 22-year-old man was pulled from a burning car before it exploded last week.

The release of the video comes after a Worcester resident publicly claimed on social media that he assisted officers in their removal of the driver from the car, but had not been credited in a news release issued by the department.

Police later clarified that an individual, who MassLive identified as 27-year-old Ethan Desseta, did help officers open the vehicle’s door.

The video and timeline reveal a second civilian, who was with Desseta, was involved in retrieving a knife that was used to cut part of the seat belt around the 22-year-old driver.

Area surveillance footage provided to MassLive from the Worcester Police Department can be viewed below. The video has been zoomed in to provide closer viewing of the incident.

Desseta previously told MassLive he parked his car and sprinted toward the wrecked vehicle and noticed a cop car arriving on the scene and that both he and the officers reached the burning vehicle at the same time.

Video footage, however, shows the officer was on scene first and Desseta later approached the vehicle.

Desseta also claimed to have run back to his car and retrieved a knife. However, video footage shows a second civilian who was traveling with him in his car running back and retrieving the knife.

The video does confirm that Desseta assisted an officer with opening the burning vehicle’s door and that a second civilian retrieved a knife from a car that was used to cut a part of the driver’s seatbelt.

A preliminary investigation revealed that the driver was speeding while traveling east on Southwest Cutoff with his lights off before colliding with a boulder near Southwest Common Plaza on Monday, Sept. 5.

The timeline of events according to the Worcester Police Department, in which Desseta is identified as “Civilian #1,″ is detailed below:

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