Death by Ambulance

The ambulance rushing to the aid of the injured is a staple of any action show, a sign of hope or a proof that everything is "going to be okay", civilization is working.

When an ambulance runs down a pedestrian, it's a sign that things have fallen apart or whatever God in charge has taken a darkly comedic turn.

As a Death Trope, all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.

Examples of Death by Ambulance include:

Film

• Dawn of the Dead, when the heroine's gun-toting neighbor is run down by a passing ambulance.
• The Final Destination, when the security guard is mentioning a feeling of 'déjà vu' and is run down by a careening ambulance twice.
• In the 1980s nuclear Britcom Whoops Apocalypse, there's a scene where U.S. President Johnny Cyclops, up for re-election, has been advised to fake an injury to gain sympathy and votes. The ambulance rushing him to hospital runs down and kills his political rival.
• Run Lola Run, by the same ambulance that destroys the Sheet of Glass.
• An ambulance is used to abduct people and steal their organs in the 1990 thriller The Ambulance. The same scenario takes place in the 1979 German film Fleisch (Meat).

Video Games

• The Widget Series Zombie Versus Ambulance kind of zig-zags this trope, as you do use the ambulance to run down zombies, but you can also rescue people who haven't quite passed over into un-death.
• In the Grand Theft Auto series, the ambulance has a tendency to run you over if you stand too close to a wounded pedestrian. The first couple of times this happens you chalk it up to coincidence, but eventually you get the feeling it's driven by Laser-Guided Karma. Of course, none of this is a patch on the carnage that can result if you're behind the ambulance's wheel yourself..
  • In the side missions where you use the ambulance to do emergency runs picking people up and taking them to the hospital, only the patient actually matters. You can kill as many other people as you'd like along the way with no consequences beyond the potential inconvenience of trying to pick up patients with a wanted level.
• A variant occurs in The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction: there are side-missions where you must pick up an ambulance, and rush the wounded occupant to a hospital. You do this by sprinting across the city, through busy traffic and pedestrians, likely causing more loss of life than you actually saved.