Man arrested nearly a year after pleading guilty in fatal Vancouver crash, police say

The Vancouver Police Department says 55-year-old Raymond Desorcy, who was wanted on Canada-wide arrest warrants in connection with a fatal crash, was arrested in downtown Vancouver last week. Police said they issued a warrant in December and officers found him outside a coffee shop near Granville Street and West Georgia streets on Thursday morning. The department described him as a “chronic offender.”

Desorcy pleaded guilty to dangerous operation of a conveyance causing death in a 2023 Vancouver crash that killed 18-year-old Dana Oh. Police said he failed to appear for a sentencing hearing in 2025, prompting the warrant. Evidence heard by the court after his guilty plea was entered indicated that he was distracted by his cellphone and speeding on Oct. 7, 2023, when he drove through a red light at Granville Street and King Edward Avenue and collided with a BMW sedan turning left.

Police said the impact injured Oh, who was in the BMW’s back seat. The vehicle’s doors had to be removed to get her out, and she died in hospital six days later.

The VPD said Desorcy’s criminal record dates back to 1989 and includes convictions related to impaired driving, assault, break and enter, robbery and uttering threats. He is also subject to a lifetime firearms prohibition. Police added that he was found guilty of seven counts of robbery in Edmonton in 2014 and released from prison in 2020.

Police said Desorcy was in possession of non-prescription drugs when he was arrested Thursday and has since been charged with breaching a release order. Online court records show that he remains in custody and is scheduled to appear in court in Vancouver on Tuesday.