Man Admits to Killing After High-Speed Chase : Traffic stops: The pursuit began after a violation in Van Nuys. It ended with the confession to a slaying.

When Los Angeles police finally caught up with a motorist they had been chasing on the San Diego Freeway early Wednesday, they got more than they bargained for, they said: a confession in a homicide case.

“He copped,” Detective Don Bellante said. “He said, ‘I’m the one you’ve been looking for.’

“They said, ‘For what?’ and he said, ‘For the murder.’ ”

It all started when two officers observed the driver of a late-model Corvette making an illegal U-turn just after midnight on Sepulveda Boulevard in Van Nuys, they said.

When they turned on their siren, the driver led them on a 100-m.p.h. chase onto the southbound lanes of the freeway and ultimately onto Mulholland Drive. During the chase, a check of the license plate number showed the car had been reported stolen, said Detective Dennis Ulick.

When police finally caught up with Kurt Allensworth near the intersection of Mulholland and Beverly Drive, they planned to ask him about the car. He was a bit more talkative then they expected.

In a “spontaneous declaration,” Allensworth, 29, of Northridge confessed to the Sept. 27 slaying of a suspected San Fernando Valley drug dealer following a “drug deal gone bad,” according to Ulick. He said Allensworth was a convicted drug abuser who was high on crack cocaine during the car chase.

Police already had been gathering evidence against Allensworth in the slaying of a suspected drug dealer--Rick Comi--but Allensworth was wanted only for questioning at the time of his arrest, Ulick said.

Allensworth’s initial conversation with the officers was taped by a KFWB radio reporter who happened to be on the scene. In it, Allensworth can be heard mumbling something about his involvement in an apparent drug deal. “Oh, you killed that guy!” responded Officer Thomas Hickey, according to the tape and police officials.

On the way to the police station, a very talkative Allensworth then made several more “unsolicited” incriminating statements, Ulick said. “He fancies himself a romantic outlaw,” Ulick added. “Whether that had any bearing on his chattering, I don’t know. Maybe he was relieved that this was all over.”

Police said Allensworth was sitting in a Ford Ranger pickup truck on a Van Nuys street when Comi came over to sell him a $20 rock of crack cocaine. But then Allensworth, after taking possession of the cocaine, said he wanted to give Comi a gold chain rather than cash. Comi protested and reached into the truck to grab the drug away, police said.

Allensworth then rolled his window up with Comi’s arm still in the truck cab, sped off and began weaving back and forth in an effort to throw Comi from the truck, Ulick said. Comi died of massive trauma to the head.

Allensworth was being held Wednesday in the Van Nuys Jail awaiting arraignment. Authorities plan to charge him with murder, reckless driving, felony evading, grand theft auto, possession of drug paraphernalia, being under the influence of drugs and parole violations, Ulick said. He added: “I suspect this person will not be seeing daylight for quite some time.”