Well, this couldn’t have been pretty.

A Friday press release from Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon’s office informed the public that Nixon’s security vehicle had been rear-ended that morning in a three-car crash in Jefferson City. Nixon apparently suffered minor injuries, as he was taken to the Capital Regional Hospital emergency room and was treated and released to continue on his scheduled events.

Those included a NEMO appearance — a speech at Adair County High School, where he didn’t appear too banged-up. (He also was plenty well enough to issue comments on the resignation of the University of Missouri System president today — a topic dear to both his heart and mine, since the governor and I are both Mizzou alumni.)

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reports that neither of the other drivers was seriously injured and all three cars were driven from the scene. It’s probably a good thing Nixon was in a Highway Patrol car rather than the monster of an SUV that transported him the one time I’ve covered him (at a November press conference in Clarksville), or else it might have been a different story.

I don’t believe it snowed in central Missouri like it did in Northeast Missouri and West-Central Illinois Friday, but all the same: “Let’s be careful out there.”