The family of a homeless man who was shot to death by a U.S. Park Police officer in front of the White House more than two years ago filed a wrongful-death lawsuit yesterday in U.S. District Court.

The parents and two surviving sons of Marcelino Corniel, 33, accused the Park Police, Officer Leon Capps and six unnamed officers of negligence, civil rights violations and using excessive force on Dec. 20, 1994, when they encountered Corniel on the street.

Maj. James McLaughlin, a Park Police spokesman, declined to comment. Corniel's parents live in Las Vegas, the sons in California. Their suit does not seek specific damages.

Corniel, with a knife taped to his left hand, had gone after a Park Police officer, identified only as Officer O'Neill in the suit, who allegedly had rousted the homeless man earlier in the day as he slept in Lafayette Square. Corniel believed that O'Neill had taken some of his belongings, the suit said.

Because of severe injuries he suffered in a car fire that left him with burns over 70 percent of his body, the lawsuit said, Corniel was disabled and had trouble hearing and understanding people. He also could barely walk, the suit said.

The family's attorney, Brian A.S. Waite, said in the suit that Corniel did not provoke Capps into shooting him twice. Rather, the lawsuit said, Corniel was surrounded by several officers who were shouting conflicting commands, and wasn't even looking at Capps when the officer shot him.