I really believe that there can be good people with no history that can under the wrong circumstances do something that they will regret the rest of their lives. If he had not have gone back in he might have lived normally for the rest of his life. JMO.
Just so, or can experience something at that pivotal point that changes or affects them so profoundly as to alter their future into something they'd not have imagined prior to that focused moment.
If he had not have gone back in he might have lived normally for the rest of his life.
And so he did, though for him *normal* life had changed considerably, and the rest of his life was not very long. He might also have swallowed his pride and gotten into his vehicle and have his life end in a fatal vehicle crash, with or without additional casualties. In which case it's most unlikely that we'd have heard of or have noticed his exit from this world.
But I very much doubt that publicity or public attention was what he was after.