A crowd of pedestrians — including an 11-month-old child — narrowly escaped death yesterday afternoon when an SUV lost control and jumped the curb at a busy Midtown intersection, authorities said.

Cops said a gray Chevy TrailBlazer was heading south on Fifth Avenue through the rain-soaked intersection at 46th Street at about 4:50 p.m. when the driver lost control.

The speeding SUV tore through a crosswalk and onto the sidewalk before slamming into a Barnes & Noble bookstore, where it came to rest with its hood popped open.

Ron Rivas, 40, was walking nearby when he saw the SUV graze a family pushing a baby in a stroller. He quickly dialed 911.

“All of a sudden this car came out of nowhere and smashed into the family and their friend. The father went flying. The lady that was with them was injured,” said Rivas, a resident of the Upper East Side.

“The baby, with the exception [of] being red and crying when they pulled him out, looked fine,” Rivas said.

The stroller holding the baby was “destroyed. Totally destroyed. I mean, there are pieces of it still around. It was completely shattered,” Rivas added.

The FDNY initially said the child was rushed to Weill Cornell Medical Center in critical condition, but cops said later that was only a precaution and that the baby and the parents suffered only minor injuries.

The SUV driver was taken to Bellevue Hospital with minor injuries.

Neither he nor any of the victims were immediately identified.

But the driver’s nephew, Nasir Abdelaziz, said his uncle swerved after another vehicle cut him off.

“He said that another driver cut him off and he was forced to swerve. The car hydroplaned and he crashed. He didn’t mean to hurt anyone. He’s very upset and his family is very upset,” Abdelaziz said at Bellevue.