Joe Bittengle was the head of the Radiologic Technology department at UAMS. He a couple of my Bachelor's degree classes while I was in school. Mr. Bittengle was killed 6 days before Christmas right in front of his mother.
I got a weird email about a memorial service for him at the university but thought it was just a service honoring him for his years there, so I kind of blew it off. I'm just not near enough to attend something like that. However, I got another email today from the people putting it on & it was even weirder, talking about his sons coming to speak. So I decided to google his name & got this article.
I gasped as I read that he was shot in the stomach by an armed robber at an apartment complex in Little Rock & later died from the injuries. The man had robbed & injured another man before demanding Mr. Bittengle's 71 year old mother's purse. She gave it to the man & then he shot her son.
I'm very shocked by this. I wasn't exactly close to Mr. Bittengle but it is still quite shocking when something like this happens to someone you know. You know thing like this happen every day but not to people you know. It happens in big cities & to drug dealers & thugs & general low-life's but not to upstanding, university professors. That only happens on Law & Order.
I know there are parts of Little Rock that are pretty rough but you still think of it as a pretty safe city, until something like this, that is. I will certainly think of it the next time I visit that town & will probably be more aware of what is going on around me. I love Little Rock & don't want to be afraid of it but I probably should be a little more cautious, not just there but probably every where I go. I don't need to be paranoid or anything, just more aware of my surroundings.
Luckily, a man has been arrested for the crime along with several other charges.
Here are a couple of other article covering the story:
Shadyside Native Killed in Ark. Robbery
UAMS Professor Dies After Robbery AttemptPress Release regarding the arrest of a suspect
3 comments:
very sad :(
I randomly search my dads name to see what comes up and I found your page. I thought it was nice that you wrote about him. Thanks.
Joseph N Bittengle
Thanks, Mr. Bittengle. I always liked him. I'm so sorry for your loss. He expected a lot out of us but I don't think he was unfair, in fact, I think he may have defended us on more than one occasion. :) I would love to teach for the University one day & I will miss not having the opportunity to get to know him better should I ever get that chance.
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