JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A woman who refused to give up when a man tried to steal her purse Thursday in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart store near Regency Square was taken on a wild ride before getting thrown to the ground from a moving car.

Despite weighing less than 100 pounds, Linda Lacock was not intimidated when a man in a passing car reached for her purse. She held on and jumped on the hood of the attempted criminal's car.

"I'm a fighter and I wasn't thinking. I just jumped on the hood of the car," Lacock said. "He was weaving in and out, trying to throw me off, and I'm just flying across the hood of the car, holding onto the windshield wipers and he kept stopping, trying to throw me off."

As she tells the story, Lacock is bandaged and bruised, and her voice is hoarse "from screaming bloody murder through the parking lot."

A Wal-Mart employee heard her screams and tried to help.

"I knew she was holding on for dear life," Chris Levuyer said. "I was just afraid someone was going to get really injured or killed."

He said he took off running after the car.

"I was sprinting full speed," said Chris Levuyer. "I'm pretty athletic; ex-military ... and when something like this happens, it just kicks in. It's a switch."

Before Levuyer could catch up, Lacock said the men stopped, got out of the car and threw her off the hood.

"I'll never forget his voice: 'Get off my m-f car *****,'" she told Channel 4's Adam Landau. "He threw me to the ground and took off."

The car, with at least two people inside, took off. Witnesses describe it as a black Mazda RX-8.

Anyone with information that could help locate the purse snatchers is asked to call Crimestoppers at 866-845-TIPS.