The man, in his 40s, climbed the tree in Tom Raine Court, in Darlington, at around 7pm on Monday evening, before shouting abuse at police officers during a six-hour stand-off.
When police tried to use a ladder to get him down, the man threw the spade which hit an officer and caused a small cut to his head. Police said the man, who is from the Darlington area, eventually climbed down from the tree himself.
A police spokeswoman said: “He was safely wedged in the tree about 15 feet off the ground, and officers didn’t need to take action because he wasn’t causing a risk to the public. He threw the spade when we put the ladders up and an officer suffered a very minor injury.”