NEWPORT-A suspect in the shooting of a Del Rio man over a drug deal gone bad was arrested before dawn today, according to Newport Police Chief Maurice Shults.

The man who was reportedly shot in the head, Dustin (B.J.) Smith, 19, remained in critical condition in a Knoxville hospital this morning, Shults said.

The suspect, Richard A. Des Roches, 29, of 1645 Hannon Road, in Newport, said he went to the Bryant Town Car Wash on Cosby Highway in Newport on Monday night to sell some Oxycontin painkillers to Smith, according to information Des Roches gave to the police department.

An unnamed passenger in Smith's vehicle allegedly grabbed the pills from Des Roches without paying him, and told Smith, the driver, to flee the scene.

Des Roches said he was dragged behind the vehicle for about 30 feet before he retaliated by firing one shot at one of the fleeing vehicle's tires. He said he then fired a second shot that reportedly shattered the back window of the vehicle and struck Smith in the head, Shults said.

The police chief said Smith was taken to Baptist Hospital of Cocke County for treatment, and then transferred to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville.

"I don't think the bullet entered (Smith's) brain," Shults said by phone this morning. The police chief, however, said that the last report he received on Smith was that he was still in critical condition.

Neither Baptist Hospital of Cocke County, which cited patient privacy rights, nor the UT Medical Center, would confirm Smith was taken to their facilities with a gunshot wound.

Des Roches, 29, was arrested this morning at his home, at 1645 Hannon Road, in Newport, at 1:30 a.m., and charged with especially aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, carrying or possession of a weapon, and child endangerment (two counts), according to a report on the incident at the police department.

Det. Lynn Shults and Patrolman Amy Elswick wrote in their report that on Monday night, police were called to the Bryant Town Car Wash on Cosby Highway, in Newport, concerning a shooting.

The report states that when police arrived, no one was there, but they found two spent 9 mm casings in the parking lot.

According to the report, police later received a call on a subject (Smith) who arrived at Baptist Hospital of Cocke County's emergency room with a suspected gunshot wound to the head.

Police conducted interviews with several witnesses at the scene of the apparent shooting, the report stated.

From those interviews, police reportedly got the name of a possible suspect, Des Roches, and a vehicle description.

Officers with the assistant of deputy sheriffs in the Cocke County Sheriff's Department went to Des Roches' residence on Hannon Road where they found and arrested him without resistance.

They allegedly recovered the 9 mm pistol used in the incident.