Foot's originating distinction between doing and allowing requires that redirecting a threat toward a person treats that person's vulnerability as an instrument, regardless of causal independence from the five saved.

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Foot(as a philosopher's name): Philippa Foot was a 20th-century British philosopher who wrote influential work on ethics and moral dilemmas, especially about the difference between actively harming someone versus letting harm happen.
Redirecting a threat(as used in thought experiments about moral dilemmas): Actively changing the direction of danger so it hits a different person instead of its original target—like diverting a runaway trolley to kill one person instead of five.
The doing/allowing distinction(as a core ethical concept): The idea that there's a moral difference between actively doing something harmful to someone (like pushing them) versus allowing something harmful to happen to them (like failing to stop a threat).
Treating someone's vulnerability as an instrument(as used in ethics): Using someone's weakness or defenselessness as a tool to achieve your goal, rather than respecting them as a person with their own rights.

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