From reading the article, it sounds like a group of guys got too drunk and acted like a bunch of idiots, which led to a fight, which can happen even amongst friends.
It's not really clear from the article, but a contusion on the eye sounds like a black eye, maybe he got cut too, I don't know. Needing future surgery on his hand? Was he punching too, so hard that he broke a bone? Like I said, not clear, but he didn't file charges that night, or the next day when he got checked out because he felt dizzy.
Usually, this type of incident blows over, apologies are made, and it is laughed about later. In this case, Mom got involved and now charges are filed.
I'm a mom of 3 sons, and if I heard this story (and I've heard stories similar to this over the years, just not with hospitals - although stitches could have been in order once if it hadn't been on an eyebrow
), I would tell my son to work it out with his brothers, that if he hadn't gotten so pissed drunk, he wouldn't have been in that situation in the first place.
Maybe I'm just weird.