A woman saw her car being stolen. Her response was both kick-ass and insane.

When Melissa Smith walked out of a petrol station to see her idle car being hijacked by a strange man, she had one overriding thought. Not today.

And so, as the man began to drive off, Smith did something equal parts kick-ass and insane. She jumped on the bonnet of the moving car, refusing to surrender until he gave up his chase.

The incident, which occurred on Wednesday at a gas station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was captured on video and has since gone viral.

In an interview with CNN, Smith was asked if she was just truly, very crazy.

“Apparently a little,” she replied, before delving into her thought process.

“If I held onto the side, I knew he could just drag me and leave,” she said. She knew, however, if she was on the bonnet, there wasn’t much he could do.

“It’s definitely not how I thought I would have reacted, but it’s what I did.

“When I first saw him and hopped on my car and I was like this is not happening to me today, I am not dealing with this. I don’t tolerate that sort of behaviour.”

In acknowledging it probably “wasn’t the safest thing to do”, Smith said she didn’t have time to brainstorm potential repercussions. “It was just a lot of quick thinking,” she told the TV station.

“I called my fiancé straight after and I don’t think he believed me at first and then he saw the video and had a ‘holy smokes moment’. He wasn’t too thrilled with my decision but he is very glad I am safe.”

At the time of the interview, Smith said no-one had been arrested yet, though she hoped it would happen soon.

In a separate interview with ABC, Smith said the man seemed to have “zero remorse”.

“He was laughing while I was on my car and he was trying to throw me off,” she said.