That sentence in bold is an example of historical present, as the sentence describes his habitual behavior in the past. It's not to be confused with relative tense described here. It's hard to logically describe when historical present is employed, but in this specific case, the intention is clear; he used it to emphasize the sentence with vividness and emotion.
See:
* Why did the author briefly jump to present tense in this article?
* Negative present endings translated as past tense
* i am confusesd as to what historical present tense is, when it is used, etc