A LONDON JOGGER has credited Hollywood actor Dustin Hoffman with saving his life after he suffered a cardiac arrest while running in Hyde Park recently.

Sam Dempster was jogging in the park on 27 April when he suffered the heart attack.

Dempster has been maintaining a ‘recovery blog’ and has written of his gratitude to Hoffman for calling an ambulance and for waiting with him for the paramedics to arrive:

A big thank you also to my new found favorite celebrity Dustin Hoffman who called 999 and waited by my side until paramedics arrived and the staff at the Chelesa and Westminster Hospital that stabalised me before I was transferred to the Royal Brompton Hospital.

Media interest in the incident led to Dempster meeting the paramedics who were involved in his resuscitation yesterday.

“I am indebted to Dustin Hoffman (who called for the ambulance after witnessing my collapse), Martin and Luke (paramedics who successfully resuscitated me with CPR and defibrillation), and the staff at both Chelsea & Westminster and Royal Brompton Hospitals,” Dempster wrote.

The AP reports that the London Ambulance Service confirmed the incident, but not Hoffman’s role, and that representatives for the actor have not responded to requests for comment.

Hoffman has a home in Kensington, which is close to Hyde Park.

Dempster has been released from hospital.

- Additional reporting by the AP