A federal judge has threatened Denver with $5,000-a-day fines if city officials don’t make “substantial progress” toward handing over police excessive-force documents that are the subject of a lawsuit.

Senior U.S. District Judge John Kane had already scolded the city in a previous order for failing to turn over the documents, which detail how the city handled excessive-force complaints made against officers in the past eight years.

The attorneys for a man who claims police wrongfully roughed him up are seeking the documents to try to prove their allegation that Denver police condone a culture of abuse.

Separately, The Denver Post also is seeking the documents.

Kane ordered the city to produce the documents in July. His latest rulings come after the city sought reconsideration of that July order, arguing that the time and cost of gathering the documents are too much.

In a court filing last month, city attorneys said it would take 3,600 staff hours — at a total cost of more than $85,000 to the city — to get the reports together. In an e-mailed statement Tuesday, Denver City Attorney Doug Friednash said the documents span 300,000 pages and 7,500 audio and video recordings.

“There is still a great deal of work that must be completed in order to comply with the court’s orders,” Friednash wrote. “These are hours that cannot be devoted to other critical matters, including public safety issues, at a time when the city’s resources are limited.”

Complicating things, wrote Safety Department records coordinator Mary Dulacki in a sworn statement filed with the court, is that most of the documents are not electronically stored and must be pulled and copied by hand.

But Kane was unmoved. He gave the city until Oct. 6 to show compliance with his order and wrote that Denver’s “complete lack of a coherent data processing system” was not a reason for reversing his ruling.

Kane was even more perturbed after both sides in the case filed a motion to push the deadline back a month so they had more time for settlement negotiations.

Kane wrote in a Monday ruling denying the delay that the city and its attorneys “have chosen to invest their time and effort in meritless attempts to obstruct the discovery process. I will not tolerate persistent evasions of discovery obligations in this case.”

He then reiterated a threat to fine the city $5,000 for every day after that deadline the city was not in compliance. In last week’s ruling, he ordered the city to pay the attorneys’ fees that the plaintiff in the case, Jason Graber, incurred while his lawyers responded to the city’s most recent motions.

The city attorney’s office has denied obstructing the process, and Friednash said Tuesday, “The city will continue to act in good faith in moving forward.”

Qusair Mohamedbhai, an attorney for Graber, said the city has yet to hand over any of the ordered documents and said he agreed with the judge’s rulings.

“The judge,” he said, “is taking the correct legal position on the matter.”

John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com