INDIANAPOLIS -- A woman who survived a terrifying carjacking from an Indianapolis mall's parking lot is telling her story nationwide.

Cidney Smith told ABC's "Good Morning America" about her discreet phone call to 911 during the Aug. 10 carjacking, the attacker's confiscation of her phone and her decision to jump out of the vehicle.

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Slideshow: Woman's Courage Praised After Carjacking Ordeal

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"I just knew that I needed to stay calm," Smith, 21, told GMA on Wednesday morning.

Smith said she had just entered her car outside Castleton Square Mall and put the key in the ignition when a man forced his way into the vehicle, pushed her into a passenger seat and held a knife to her throat.

Smith secretly dialed 911 on her cell phone and let a dispatcher listen as Smith talked to the carjacker, who started driving. Smith directed the conversation in a manner that let the dispatcher hear what kind of car they were in, where they were and in which direction they were headed.

She said the man eventually realized she had been using the phone, and he took the device. She said she then feared for her life.

"I knew then that I had to do something else. I needed to get out of that," Smith told GMA.

She eventually opened a door and rolled out of the red Volkswagen Beetle, and the man sped off in her car.

Smith recalled what she was thinking shortly before she exited the vehicle.

"I don't care if I break my neck jumping out of this car. I just have to get out of this car with this man. He is crazy," Smith said. "I unlocked the door, kicked it open ... and, with all of my might, I just rolled out of the car and hit the ground. Luckily, we made a wide turn so I wasn't in traffic and I just rolled into the grass."

Police found her in minutes, thanks in part to the information that the dispatcher had heard.

Jeffery Burger, 45, was arrested on Tuesday after police found him driving the same Volkswagen taken from Smith. While leading police on a chase, he crashed into another car, authorities said.

Smith went to the scene and identified Burger as the man who carjacked her a little more than a week earlier.

ABC's Chris Cuomo and Robin Roberts applauded Smith for her courage and presence of mind.

Dispatcher: Call Was Unlike Any I've Heard

Sara Baird, the Marion County dispatcher who took Smith's 911 call, said the call was unlike any of the hundreds she has handled.

"You never -- even from callers that are talking to you directly -- get that much information," Baird told 6News' Tanya Spencer on Wednesday.

Baird said she was more nervous listening to the call than Smith sounded talking.

"She was very poised, and I was king of shaky," Baird said.

Baird said the information that the call revealed -- such as the car's location at the time of the carjacking -- helped police find Smith after she left the vehicle.

"If she hadn't given the information that she gave, there's really nothing we could have done," Baird said.