Heartstopping moment five year-old girl's arm is sucked inside gap by opening elevator door at luxury condo building, triggering huge race to free her and leaving youngster badly injured

A five-year-old-girl's arm was sucked into a tiny gap between an elevator and the wall and trapped there for three minutes.

Zoe Garatziotis suffered a gash on her wrist that needed 20 stiches to close, and now has a large and painful scar, and her family filed a lawsuit.

The little girl was having a pool day at the 1450 Washington at Hudson Tea apartment complex in Hoboken, New Jersey, last July and riding to the seventh floor.

She had her hand on the elevator door as it arrived and as the door opened it was dragged along with it, to the horror of her mother Loni Garatziotis.

Zoe Garatziotis' arm was pulled into a tiny gap between an elevator and the wall and trapped there for three minutes

Security footage showed Loni and her friend Nicole, who were there with Zoe's brother and twin sister and two other children, straining to pull her arm out.

They tried hand sanitizer as a makeshift lubricant, but to no avail, and after three minutes finally pulled her free after slathering her arm in lotion a neighbor gave them.

Zoe needed monthly hospital visits to care for the wound after the family returned home to Palm Beach, Florida.

Her parents sued Taylor Management Company and Kone Elevators and Escalators for negligence on August 31, both of which deny liability.

The lawsuit seeks damages and want the building and elevator manufacturer to add warning signs about what happened to Zoe.

Security footage showed Loni and her friend Nicole, who were there with Zoe's brother and twin sister and two other children, straining to pull her arm out

Zoe suffered a gash on her wrist that needed 20 stiches to close, and now has a large and painful scar, and her family filed a lawsuit

'If you look at where the door goes in, it's a really small gap, it can fit a couple pieces of paper, that's how it should have been, the gap was too big,' their lawyer Edward Capozzi told ABC 7.

Loni said Zoe was still struggling with the scar nine months later.

'It's pretty rugged, it's pretty big and it's something that we deal with on a daily basis. She wants to cover it, it doesn't feel good, it's sensitive,' she said.

Taylor Management Company denied liability and blamed Zoe and her mother for causing the accident.

'Any injury or damages sustained by the plaintiffs were caused by the sole negligence, wrongdoing or breach of duty or warranty of plaintiffs and/or co-defendants,' it wrote in its answer to the complaint.

Zoe with her twin sister and parents Loni and Theo Garatziotis

The filing argued Loni was responsible for Zoe at the time and left her unattended and unsupervised  

'Said minor was not paying attention and was too young and inexperienced to have good judgment and recognize the risk of injuring herself, thus causing the within alleged accident,' it argued.

TMC argued Loni was therefore 'negligent and/or reckless' in supervising Zoe, which was 'direct and proximate cause of the accident and injuries'.

Kone also denied responsibility but didn't make any other accusations. 

The case was sent to mediation and is working its way through the courts.