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Posted: 9:37 AM- Curtis Allgier lay in an MRI machine listening to his favorite song, "Epiphany," when he says he was struck by one of his own.

With no hand or ankle restraints, Allgier said, he realized he had a chance to escape.

"I was facing 104 months [in prison], and I had no shackles on," Allgier said from a Salt Lake County jail holding cell Wednesday. "I was going out that door."

The only thing in his way, he said, was Corrections Officer Stephen Anderson.

Allgier completed the MRI at the University of Utah's orthopedic center and was changing back into his prison suit in front of Anderson, he said. The guard stood between him and the examination room's door.

"I said, 'Look, I'm going out that door and you're not going to stop me. So just let me go,' " Allgier said.

That's when Anderson rushed Allgier and grabbed him by the waist, Allgier said.

Anderson reached for his gun, and Allgier threw his shoulder into him, Allgier said. The gun dropped to the ground, and Allgier picked it up, he said.

With one hand on the exam room's door and another clutching the gun, he said, Allgier struggled to wrestle Anderson from his waist. He then hit Anderson in the head and the gun went off, Allgier said.

"I didn't mean to shoot him," Allgier said.

Anderson fell dead on the floor.

Police - who planned to screen capital murder charges with prosecutors today - have remained mum about what happened inside that exam room. A probable cause statement filed with the jail states Allgier shot Anderson while changing into his prison jumpsuit.

Allgier said he then ran a half block to Foothill Drive and carjacked a Ford Explorer. He drove to a friend's house in the Kearns area, but the friend was not home, he said.

Allgier then drove to west Salt Lake City to friend Tricia Tower's house. He parked in back and walked through the unlocked front door.

Holding a cup of coffee, Tower rounded a corner and saw Allgier standing in her living room, where he told her, "You are going to be so mad at me," Tower said.

Allgier told Tower he killed an officer and stole a car.

"I was in shock," she said. "It was an experience I have seen on TV, but never expected to live."

Allgier asked Tower for clothes, grabbing a pair of shorts and a white T-shirt from her drawer. Tower's brother, Russell, later took the jumpsuit to his house and then gave it to police, he said.

As he looked out a front window, Allgier said, he realized he was in trouble as he spotted three marked police cars within a block.

Allgier said he threw on the clothes and fled out the back door. He drove the Explorer less than a block down a back alley when a city street sweeper pulled in front of him. He swerved to get around the sweeper.

"Then I saw blue lights," Allgier said.

That set off a lengthy chase, at times at more than 100 mph, on three highways. On Redwood Road, Allgier stopped at an Arby's restaurant because of a flat tire on the right rear wheel.

"Once I got to the Arby's, I knew I was done," he said.

Inside the restaurant, Allgier said he waived the gun in the air and told people to get down.

He said he noticed a shell casing jammed in the gun. Witnesses said they saw Allgier point the gun at the head of an employee. The probable cause statement alleged Allgier pulled the trigger but it jammed. Allgier disputes that.

Allgier struggled with an Arby's employee and military veteran Eric Fullerton, who said he wrestled the gun from Allgier.

Police said one shot was fired inside the restaurant, but Allgier said he never shot. He said he heard the shot, but Fullerton was holding the gun at the time.

A Salt Lake City police officer at some point fired from outside the restaurant. Allgier said he walked to the manager's office to make a final call to his estranged wife, Jolene Allgier. He got an answer machine twice, threw the phone down and was swarmed by officers, he said.

Allgier recalled the events of Monday with little emotion, laughing briefly while talking about a first meeting with Tower's roommate during his brief stop at the house.

Describing himself as a "white-power skinhead" who opposes interracial marriage, Allgier said he was a lifelong member of the white-supremacy gang Aryan Empire Warriors and that his father and cousins were members of the gang.

"I was born and raised that way," Allgier said. "All my family is white supremacists."

Allgier's sisters have disputed those claims, saying Allgier became a white supremacist in prison.

Despite the violent circumstances of his attempted escape, Allgier insisted he was not a violent person. "I don't believe in crime. Crime doesn't improve your race."

But he seemed to betray that sentiment when discussing rival white-supremacy gangs, saying he fought several rival members in prison.

While he expressed regret for killing Anderson, Allgier said he was simply seizing an opportunity to get free.

Despite allegations from a former cell mate in 2005, when Allgier was in prison on a parole violation, Allgier said he never thought of escaping before because he had never faced such a stiff prison sentence. He had recently been sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison for a gun charge.

"There's nobody in my crew that wouldn't have done the same thing I did, standing in front of freedom with no shackles and no handcuffs," Allgier said. "I saw an opportunity and I honestly thought I would get away."

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